Sainbury issued a promising trading statement last week but why no mention of margins? It's not alone with all the other multiples reluctant to cover margins in their quarterly updates. Good see that Marks gives them a mention.
Commentary at www.investorschampion.com

Trading Statement

Second Quarter Trading Statement for 16 weeks to 3 October 2009

Universal appeal continues to drive progress in challenging consumer environment

Highlights

Total sales for second quarter up 3.2 per cent (6.8 per cent excluding fuel) (1)

Like-for-like sales for second quarter up 1.3 per cent (4.6 per cent excluding fuel) (1)

Like-for-like sales for second quarter up 5.4 per cent excluding fuel and VAT (1)

Weekly transactions now over 18.5 million, up 800,000 year on year

What's happening here?
2517

Qatari bid talk resurfaces.
2517

Its here.

sharp rise....mais pourquoi ?...

any more substance to the rumours , anyone hearing anything else ?

scrapman see post 4, however it was in the papers that Qatari did not take part in the 400m fund raising earlier this year.
2517

thanks 2517 , not sure how to read this , whenever "rumours" of a bid get out it usually never comes off

apparently 2 barclay bankers are helping another bidder to launch a takeover..i think the report said saudi based

could see this fly monday

More likely to see a pig fly..

Market booming sbry not so much... This will be flat for the next three weeks in my eyes.. Just hold for now!

Financial Summary

Total sales (including VAT) up 3.7 per cent to 11,158 million (2008/09: 10,756 million)

Total sales growth excluding fuel (including VAT) up 7.9 per cent

Like-for-like sales growth(1) excluding fuel (including VAT) of 5.7 per cent

Underlying profit before tax(3) up 18.5 per cent at 307 million (2008/09: 259 million(2))

Underlying basic earnings per share(4) up 18.6 per cent to 12.1 pence (2008/09: 10.2 pence(2))

Profit before tax of 342 million (2008/09: 258 million), up 32.6 per cent

Basic earnings per share of 14.0 pence (2008/09: 9.8 pence), up 42.9 per cent

Interim dividend of 4.0 pence, up 11.1 per cent (2008/09: 3.6 pence)

Sainsbury claims that it is continuing to grow market share with 18.5 million customers each week...it is tipped on uk analyst website
http://uk-analyst.com/shop/page-article/action-article.show/id-130001717

Final results.

Preliminary Results for the 52 weeks to 20 March 2010

Good sales and profit performance: accelerating our growth strategy

Financial Summary

Total sales (inc VAT, inc fuel) up 5.1 per cent to 21,421 million (2008/09: 20,383 million)

Total sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 6.7 per cent

Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 4.3 per cent(1)

Underlying operating profit up 8.9 per cent to 671 million (2008/09: 616 million)

Underlying profit before tax(2) up 17.5 per cent to 610 million (2008/09: 519 million)(3)

Underlying basic earnings per share(4) up 12.7 per cent to 23.9 pence (2008/09: 21.2 pence)(3)

Proposed full year dividend of 14.2 pence (2008/09: 13.2 pence), up 7.6 per cent

Trading Statement.

Second Quarter Trading Statement for 16 weeks to 2 October 2010


Continued market outperformance; growth plans progressing well


Total sales for second quarter up 6.6 per cent (5.2 per cent excluding fuel)(1)

Like-for-like sales for second quarter up 4.3 per cent (2.9 per cent excluding fuel)(1)

Total sales for first half up 7.0 per cent (4.8 per cent excluding fuel)(1)

Like-for-like sales for first half up 4.4 per cent (2.0 per cent excluding fuel) (1)

Opened our largest stores in England, Scotland and Wales in last 10 days of quarter (6)

Justin King, Chief Executive, said, "We've delivered another strong performance and grown market share(2). Excluding fuel, total sales were up 5.2 per cent, with like-for-like sales up 2.9 per cent and up 7.6 per cent on a two-year basis(3). New space has continued to perform ahead of our expectations delivering a further 2.3 per cent contribution to sales growth (excluding fuel). Fuel price inflation has continued to act as a pressure on household budgets with total sales including fuel up 6.6 per cent.

Interim Results.

Outperforming the market; with strong growth plans



Financial summary

Total sales (inc VAT) up 7.0 per cent to 11,944 million (2009/10: 11,158 million)

Total sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 4.8 per cent

Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 2.0 per cent

Underlying operating profit up 8.2 per cent to 370 million (2009/10: 342 million)

Underlying profit before tax up 8.1 per cent to 332 million (2009/10: 307 million)(1)

Profit before tax up 36.3 per cent to 466 million (2009/10: 342 million)

Underlying basic earnings per share up 8.3 per cent to 13.1 pence (2009/10: 12.1 pence)(2)

Basic earnings per share up 33.6 per cent to 18.7 pence (2009/10: 14.0 pence)

Interim dividend of 4.3 pence (2009/10: 4.0 pence), up 7.5 per cent(3)



Operating highlights

Strong growth, outperforming the market with increased market share(4)

Over 2,000 new jobs created in the first half through store investment

Weekly transactions now over 20 million, up one million on last year

Hat-trick of awards at 2010 Retail Industry Awards: Community Retailer of the Year, Convenience Retailer of the Year, Seafood Retailer of the Year

Cost efficiency savings fully offset inflationary pressures

have just bought 50k for the div 10.8p 4.30 today ex div

clayton dubilier @rice . do not be surpriced at bid from them for sbry.

just a rumour of buy out from a pal

i now see the ex ceo of tesco going to work part time for clayton

OUCH tanks ..... not sure what you paid for yours yesterday, but sp looks to have (shall we say) tanked even taking into a/c the divi

i paid 354p div 10.8p . i am in no hurry will wait till next news or sell at 350p

if they fall to 330 i will buy 50k more then avge will be about 340p plus my div

didn't realise divi was that much, but fairly unusual for sp to fall significantly more than the nett of the divi

probably bid coming...heard a whisper

Right O!

J Sainsbury has announced that Val Gooding, Non-Executive Director, will stand down from the Board at the Company's AGM on 13 July 2011. She has been appointed as Chairman of Premier Farnell PLC and due to her increased time commitments has decided to step down from the Board of J Sainsbury plc.

RNS Number : 4461I

Sainsbury(J) PLC

15 June 2011

15 June 2011

First Quarter Trading Statement for the 12 weeks to 11 June 2011

Solid sales performance in a challenging market

-- Total sales for first quarter up 7.3 per cent (4.3 per cent excluding fuel)(1)

-- Like-for-like sales for first quarter up 4.8 per cent (1.9 per cent excluding fuel)(1)

-- Strong customer growth - weekly transactions up 5 per cent to 22 million(2)

Justin King, Chief Executive, said, "We've delivered a solid sales performance, in line with our expectations, in spite of the continued tough consumer environment. Fuel price inflation combined with strong fuel volume growth resulted in an increase in total sales of 7.3 per cent, with like-for-like sales up 4.8 per cent. Excluding fuel, total sales were up 4.3 per cent, with like-for-like sales up 1.9 per cent."

Despite the tough economic conditions our customers celebrated Easter, the Royal Wedding and the glorious weather in April, playing to our strength of supporting family occasions. We sold nearly 300 miles of bunting, 159,000 flags and 49,000 mugs. Hot cross bun sales increased 29 per cent and we sold the most champagne we have ever sold outside of Christmas.

While demonstrating a willingness to treat themselves on these family occasions, our customers continue to manage their spend carefully. The increase in fuel costs is placing further pressure on consumer disposable income. One way our customers are keeping the cost of their shopping low is through buying Sainsbury's own label ranges. Our three key own label ranges, basics, by Sainsbury's, and Taste the Difference, all saw volume and sales growth in the period. Basics is our fastest-growing brand, and is now number two in the value market with 22.3 per cent market share.(3) At the end of the quarter we had re-launched over 1,500 products from our core own label range, by Sainsbury's, of which almost 80 per cent are either new or improved. Since its relaunch in September Taste the Difference has gone from strength to strength, winning eight gold awards at the Grocer Own Label Food & Drink Awards, making Sainsbury's the most successful retailer with twelve gold awards in total.

We continue to find new ways to help our customers, and in the quarter we launched our new Feed Your Family for GBP50 meal planner, which provides a family of four with 21 tasty and nutritious home cooked meals. Customer response has been very positive and since the launch in May over one million customers have logged on to the website to learn more. Products featured in the planner have seen sales and volume uplifts of over 20 per cent.

Our general merchandise and clothing offer grew faster than food, despite a very tough market. This quarter we celebrated our biggest childrenswear sales week ever, and were the number one retailer for The King's Speech DVD, where we achieved a record market share of 34 per cent in the week of its release.

The convenience business grew at 20 per cent, underpinned by strong like-for-like growth, and our groceries online business grew at over 20 per cent. General merchandise online continued to grow strongly, supported by the accelerated roll-out of the Click & Collect service to a further 240 stores, including convenience stores. This brings the total Click & Collect stores to 400, a big step towards our objective of 800 stores by Christmas.

We grew space in line with our plans, opening two new supermarkets, one replacement, three extensions and 13 convenience stores, in total adding 209,000 sq ft of gross space to our estate.(4) We continue to extend our offer successfully to new customers across the UK, with a replacement store in Wakefield and extensions to stores in Cardiff, Scunthorpe and Ballymena, illustrating the universal customer appeal of the Sainsbury's brand.

The market environment remains very competitive, reflecting the challenging economic backdrop. We expect this to be the case throughout the year. Sainsbury's will continue to help our customers to manage their weekly spend and still enjoy great quality products, whilst at the same time investing for future growth in space, non-food and our online business.

Not far off s p parity with MRW, closest I've seen it. Which is the better buy I wonder?
2517

Decided on SBRY @ 302.70
2517

Our local Sainsbury's is to get a massive extension from single storey to two-storey with extra parking at rooftop level.

Unlike me, my wife has tried to stay loyal to them, and I have often argued against this with regard to this local store - but she did insist and won the day mostly.

We were there yesterday doing a shop and the existing interior is now just about falling apart because of lack of maintenance and poor staff attitude, whilst they put most things off and wait for the new stuff that will come with the "new store". It will be about double the size and everything will then be all brand new. Turnover will double from 1.25m per week to about 2-2.75m per week.

I have frequently asked my wife to 'open her eyes a bit wider' around the place. When she did on this visit she saw one side of a whole aisle of greengroceries that had been taken out of service. It also looked like every one of the fronts to the floor level cabinets to these units had been severly bashed/dented by an aggressive floor polisher machine. This was a truly disgusting and amazing site!

Anyhow, after me complaining yet again to their CS, and for about the 10th time on the state of the Gents loo, she has finally capitulated and we have now decided that enough is enough for this Sainsbury's store in its present state.

I read between the lines that Sainsbury's have actually 'fallen out' with Jamie Oliver.

We took the opportunity to stock up with Jamie's Pasta sauce from his new range as they slashed the price to 1/2 price. I do recommend this to you (go for the one with Chili and add your own basil).

As an alternative to Jamie they have signed a deal with Lorraine Pascalle, who is a very delightful and dishy young black/mixed race lady. She is into 'baking and cakes and stuff'. Jamie was into everything except any of all that.

Will Lorraine be a good move? We think not. But she will better to look at and undoubtedly be less costly. Jamie is now roughly worth more than Sainsbury's!

SBRY are constantly playing catch up no innovation, no imagination... going no where.

Thanks for those cheery words guys, sp should start to motor then.
2517

Could fall to 260p.

Price wars with Tesco and Asda will undermine all food retailers previoulsy immune to the slow-down.

My 'foot' in the sector is TSCO and I will hold for now.

TSCO v SBRY.

Sainsburys pay a dividend of 6% which is a better retutn than the building societies.

There are plenty of high yielders about atm - many less volatile (boring?) have a look at VOD which has an extra dividend coming early next year from its Verizon interests.

Mitzy if you are looking at low(er) risk yielding stocks - have a look at some of these - no advice given or intended.

SDV current yield 6.8%
SHRS 7.02%
ISG 9.05%
GACA
MKLW 5.7%
HICL 5.8%
JLIF

High yielding but a risk atm are many of the insurers.

AV - current yield 8.97%
RSA - 8.11%
SL. 6.52%

Will take a look thanks.

40p lower than my purchase 7 weeks ago, I thought they were cheap then so will pick up more. Maybe 2nd qtr 'like for like' is not as good as the 1st qtr. I believe SBRY own their stores as well, so mkt cap is below nav, throw in the juicy divi and possible return of t/o chatter, and the sp could improve somewhat.
2517

Not a holder here George but should they fall to 240p I will buy some in view of the fact their property is worth twice the presnt share price.

Having problems holding above 260p I think.




Worth buying @240p.

Trading Statement.

Second Quarter Trading Statement for 16 weeks to 1 October 2011

Good sales performance in a challenging market

Total sales for second quarter up 7.8 per cent (4.4 per cent excluding fuel)

Like-for-like sales for second quarter up 5.4 per cent (1.9 per cent excluding fuel)

Total sales for first half up 7.6 per cent (4.3 per cent excluding fuel)

Like-for-like sales for first half up 5.1 per cent (1.9 per cent excluding fuel)

Market appears to like the SBRY numbers, and mixed on TSCO.
2517

Good figures George I missed the boat here.

Know what you mean Mitzy, my finger refused to click the mouse for EMG @ 150p yesterday, same with LAD but I'm sure there will be many opportunities before the debt crisis is over. Talking of which, if personal debt is being paid off, (last 3 years we are told) then at some stage those same people will be debt free, or at least at a level of debt with which they are comfortable.
2517

Sainsburys sets out 1 billion sustainability plan

Sainsbury's today unveils a new 1 billion plan, which will ensure the company remains at the forefront of sustainability between now and 2020. The Sainsbury's 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan, which is being launched today, sets out 20 sustainability targets to be achieved by 2020.

The commitments address four key areas of focus:

Sustainable and Healthy Products - including Best for British: By 2020, we'll double the amount of British food we sell

Operational Excellence - including Operational carbon emission reduction: By 2020, we'll have reduced our operational carbon emissions by 30 per cent absolute and 65 per cent relative, compared with 2005.

Colleagues - including 20 years service: By 2020, 20,000 of our colleagues will have reached 20 years service at Sainsbury's.

Communities - including New jobs and skills: By 2020, we'll create 50,000 new jobs in the UK.

Interims on Wednesday.
2517

Half Yearly Report.

Financial summary

-- Total sales (inc VAT, inc fuel) up 7.6 per cent to GBP12,848 million (2010/11: GBP11,944 million)

-- Total sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 4.3 per cent
-- Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 1.9 per cent
-- Underlying operating profit up 7.0 per cent to GBP396 million (2010/11: GBP370 million)
-- Underlying profit before tax up 6.6 per cent to GBP354 million (2010/11: GBP332 million)(1)
-- Underlying basic earnings per share up 6.1 per cent to 13.9 pence (2010/11: 13.1 pence)(2)
-- Interim dividend of 4.5 pence per share up 4.7 per cent (2010/11: 4.3 pence)(3)

Looks pretty good.

RNS Number : 3430V

Sainsbury(J) PLC

11 January 2012

11 January 2012

Third Quarter Trading Statement for 14 weeks to 7 January 2012

Record-breaking Christmas, completes a strong quarter

-- Total sales for third quarter up 7.0 per cent (4.5 per cent excluding fuel)
-- Like-for-like sales for third quarter up 4.8 per cent (2.1 per cent excluding fuel)
-- Two year like-for-like sales growth 5.7 per cent excluding fuel
-- Christmas customer transactions up 1.5 million to 26 million(1) , increasing market share(2)


Justin King, Chief Executive, said, "This was a strong quarter, rounded off by our best Christmas ever, despite the economic backdrop. Across the quarter customers chose Sainsbury's to help them Live Well for Less, taking advantage of our great value offer during October and November and then treating themselves and their families over the holiday season. There were 26 million customer transactions in the Christmas week, 1.5 million more

than last year.(1) Like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 2.1 per cent, which was on top of a market-beating Christmas in 2010, giving two-year like-for-like growth of 5.7 per cent. This performance would not have been possible without the fantastic efforts of our 150,000 colleagues.
This was a record-breaking Christmas, with our biggest ever week, day and hour for sales as customers celebrated with Sainsbury's quality food. Taste the Difference (TtD) grew by over ten per cent in the quarter. We sold over GBP2 million worth of TtD Norfolk Black Free Range turkeys and almost 50,000 of the new TtD Kirsch Cherry Filled Christmas Pudding. basics also grew strongly, especially staple ingredients. For example, sales of basics unsalted butter increased by 82 per cent and basics dried fruits were up 30 per cent, reflecting the growth in home baking.

Customers have really embraced Live Well for Less, taking advantage of Sainsbury's unique combination of quality and value to help manage their total spend. Brand Match has been a big hit with customers, who increasingly recognise the great value for money that Sainsbury's offers. As a result of this success we have extended our Brand Match promise into 2012. A record number of people used their Nectar cards in the quarter, with GBP100 million worth of points redeemed. Our petrol promotions remain popular, helping to drive a 7.5 per cent increase in petrol volumes.

General merchandise and clothing continued to grow faster than food. Gok Wan's second range - Christmas party wear - was launched on 17 November and helped drive sales across our TU clothing range, increasing market share.(3) Our Christmas gifts range sold nearly one million units, up over ten percent. The best seller was our Trivia Box, a collection of quiz questions perfect for Christmas stockings. Events such as our half-price toy promotion also helped drive this good performance, despite the testing market conditions for non-food.

This quarter we added over 600,000 square feet of new space, including our 1,000(th) store, in Irvine, Scotland, and 21 new convenience stores. Convenience grew at almost 25 per cent, driven by new space and strong like-for-like sales growth, as customers topped up at Sainsbury's Locals to manage their total spend in the quarter. Our larger supermarkets' performance was especially strong over Christmas as customers sought out a one-stop shop to buy everything they needed for the festive period.

Sainsbury's multi-format, multi-channel offer enables customers to shop how they choose, when they choose. Groceries online grew at almost 20 per cent and we delivered a record 160,000 orders per week over the Christmas period, with our best-ever availability and customer service. Christmas week was our strongest for 'Click and Collect', with last-minute shoppers able to order online and pick up in one of 870 stores the next day. Almost 75 per cent of online general merchandise orders at Christmas used 'Click and Collect'.

Consistent with trends over the past year, we expect customers to spend cautiously in 2012, particularly in the first few months as they tighten their belts post Christmas. Although the short term remains challenging, key events later in the year, such as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, provide opportunities for growth. We will continue to invest in our offer to support our customers through these difficult times."

Just had a punt here @286

..Questor share tip: Investors should invest well for less at Sainsbury

By Garry White | Telegraph – 2 hours 10 minutes ago


......
Supermarket J Sainsbury had a good Christmas, but that's not why the shares are a buy. They are a buy because they are an asset-backed income play.

J Sainsbury 302.1p -3.8p Questor says BUY

Questor changed its view on the supermarket group's shares in November (Stuttgart: A0Z24E - news) after they plunged by more than a quarter from the previous year. This fall means the investment case is now very different from before.

The majority view in the City on Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) shares is a hold. Out of the 33 analysts covering the shares and monitored by Bloomberg, 17 have a neutral rating. A further nine say sell and seven say buy. Their average price target is 319.9p.

The investment case is no longer about whether the group will marginally outperform another supermarket group over any particular time period, or about how it calculates its like-for-like sales. Sainsbury is now an income play but it is also one which offers a good upside once a recovery starts to take place.

The shares are yielding a prospective 5.5pc in the year to March 2013. This is higher than traditional dividend plays such as GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF.PK - news) , which is yielding 5.1pc in the year to December; Royal Dutch Shell (4.5pc) or even Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT.L - news) (4.9pc). In fact, the dividend is now almost as high as that seen with a water company such as United Utilities, which is yielding 5.6pc in the year to March 2013.

The payment also looks safe, barring any financial Armageddon. It is covered by consensus earnings 1.73 times in 2012 and 2013, so does not look as if it will come under pressure. The business remains defensive and extremely cash-generative.

This will provide a floor for the shares if consumers further rein in spending this year. Also, the company's valuation is backed by £10.9bn of property, compared with its £5.7bn capitalisation.

The fact that the supermarket had a solid Christmas is therefore another plus for the investment case. Yesterday, the group said like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose by 2.1pc in the 14 weeks to January 7. This is ahead of City expectations of a 1.8pc rise. Total (Other OTC: TTFNF.PK - news) sales for the third quarter were up 7pc (4.5pc excluding fuel).

There are some issues among analysts about VAT being added to like-for-like sales, as with the inclusion of store expansions in like-for-like sales. This is because the company has a significant store-expansion plan, which can allow it to move more into non-food items.

However, this will keep the top and bottom line growing, and is not really of concern to Questor. The valuation and the cash generation are more important. New ranges such as clothing designed by How To Look Good Naked presenter Gok Wan have proved a success. Consumers may be spending less on the weekly shop, but convenience stores are performing well, with growth at an impressive 25pc after 600,000 square feet of new space was added.

Since November, consensus forecasts for revenues and the dividend have edged higher, with pre-tax profits and earnings per share forecasts nudging lower.

First (OTC BB: FSTC.OB - news) tipped at 297.6p on November 10 last year, the shares are up 2pc, compared with a market up 2pc. They are a buy for income and for medium-term growth

just added 14251 at 285p when is ex div is it june

May.

thanks 16p for the year wish i had bought 30000.now if they go under 288p i wil .
but i am still buying RSA in a big way they are my top stock for 2012

T ---We have only recently received the int. divi of 4.5p
2517

yes thanks 2517 i got it just could not find ex final div date i have 47678.
i like divs rsa pays out 10% this year i love it thats my hol and car paid for .

In @ 291.9 on the spreads March contract.

I do shop at sains and you can enjoy the meat you can not eat tesco meat it is like old leather

100% agree, or the rotten bananas. :-))))))

SBRY & RSA type of share you won't lose much sleep over.
2517

div is now over 6%. and yes assets worth at least 60% more than current sp.
sleep easy and nice div return

questor has got it correct buy buy buy . and sleep

sorry, but i think questor has it wrong ..... the quality of goods in sbry is appalling - see my post on tsco

cynic you can not eat the food from tesco it is crap the meat is like old boots .
even the dog wont eat it.

We use SBRY but can't comment on their meat as we use our local butcher.
2517

I think sains is slowly chipping away at Tesco. Good advertising and good quality food
at a good price.

I would like to be a fly on the wall in the Tesco board room this week.

M/C 5.4bn the companys valuation is backed up by 10.9bn of property .

are these falling down to bad management . because justin king is not that bright
by all accounts

Goldman Sachs today:
"We reduce FY13 EBIT forecasts by 21.3%, 5.6% and 6.5% for Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury, respectively. The outlook for returns over the next two years has deteriorated and in particular we see expansion by SBRY and MRW as returns destructive. We see more compelling relative value in European Food Retail and believe that the deteriorating outlook for CROCI means the sector should trade on a lower multiple. We adjust our target prices accordingly.
Downgrade Tesco to Neutral, Sainsbury to Sell from Neutral; Morrisons remains Sell."

just added 14794 at 287.06p now have 97452

justin king . is destoying this company the man is a idiot full of shite

over the last 12 months
sbry down 26%
tesco down 19%
mrw down 7%
sainsbury the worst performing share and this ceo
thinks he is good he needs to see is doctor

Shop at Lidli , and don't eat red meat its nearly as bad for you as smoking

aid . how can a CEO say he is doing a good job when the SP as fallen 26 % .
it amazes me no wonder pensions are finnished justin king should resign he is a fool.
he did not gget the job on merit that is for sure

aldo - where did you get those crackpot ideas from?

the ceo of sbry was paid nearly 4million and they go on about banker he only looks after a shop and he does nothing to make it any better . i will never buy from sainsburys again giving money to a man like him . the thought makes me feel sick

Post 74 20th January----just added 14794 at 287.06p now have 97452
2517

sold the lot. now in cna tsco vod rsa barc rbs ,mrw .

followed your advice and bought some cna ..... already holding tsco, rbs and mrw

cynic talk of a s/d of over 23p tele. rachel cooper friday

Sainsbury's to turn up heat in home insurance market with relaunched offer that aims to cut prices for shoppers

look at what they cover the cost if you want better insurance is more than the banks

6m more shares to be issued bad news again why did they not buy on open market .
they are taking the piss out of holders again the CEO is taking the micky out of holders SELL SELL

switch into CNA for better returns

fair value is about 220p

Sorry TANKER, total carp.

dream all that justin king does is print more shares and takes almost 4m in pay for 2010 what is it going to be for 2011 and the sp is down 25% worse than tesco and mrw down only 7 % the board are rubbish and for the last 12 months the only thing that lifts the sp is take over rumours

they will go up for div then drop like a stone

TANKER, it will be interesting to see which performs best SBRY or CNA as they have virtually the same sp atm, I hold SBRY but not CNA so I think I'll watch them both.
2517

well i have gone for CNA and have also ditched shopping at sbry do not like jk

2517 i do hold mrw and have for a long time well run

Hope you understand TANKER, just what you said, I'm not having ago at you personally. I have a different view of sains, give them a year or so. :-))

Can I ask you a question T.
Why is Warren B investing so much in Tesco. I cannot see them turning round over night. I know their property empire is huge, if they do not sell it all off. (which the city will not like)

Sainsbury's reports its 'best Christmas ever'. Tanker I am very interested to see the next set of results from Sains and Tesc as we know Tesc reported a poor christmas and sains a very good one. Going to be very interesting.

dream i am going out but will reply to your question . tesco is a big company and not just food like allmy family we only buy our elecs computers and such from them as after sales is excellent unlike pc world which is crap . back to sains they are cutting margins to move stock and that will impact on profit .
and the reason i have sold is the CEO is not a nice person and it is him that is why i and others who i deal with have dumped and do not shop there any more /
but good luck to you . remember CNA go ex div 25th april so you could buy cna sell before div day and buy back into sbry for there div which is in may

TANKER, good to see different thoughts. I see the cutting of margins will impact on
profit. This draws customers away from other stores as well, as long as the service and quality satisfy the paying customer. (TESCO ?). A man or woman who makes it to the top does so through not necessarily as you say being a nice person. Do you think the Tesco board are nice people ?

Thats also why we have a below expectations report from Tesco. In my view Tesco have gone about with a set of blinkers on (to prevent sideways vision) to chase PROFIT forgetting the customer. I think they have mr Leahy to thank for that.
He got the profits up yes. Cutting suppliers to the bone, resulting in poor quality food.
Less staff per sq ft of store space. I find happier staff in a sainsbury store then a Tesco (my view) Distribution has been cut, so Tesco find it hard to get fresh/ quality
items to the shelf. I feel Tesco are not going to have it easy to turn the operation around.

dream i do not hold tesco . but today i have added 354678. in lloys

dream i do not hold tesco . but today i have added 354678. in lloys

and i will start to sell at 36p

Thanks Tanker.

looking round the supermarkets they are not very busy empty

Sainsbury's invests in Tamar Energy Limited to build 100MW of organic waste-fuelled green power capacity

Sainsbury's has today announced that it has invested £2m in Tamar Energy Limited, a new company focused on producing energy from organic waste matter.

Tamar Ltd was launched today and is backed by a number of investors who are contributing over £65m to establish the business, to develop a UK network of over forty anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. Collectively they will generate 100MW of green electricity over the next five years.

As the UK's leading retailer of AD energy, Sainsbury's is providing its expertise and experience in using this technology. The retailer has clear commitments to protecting the environment and already has a clear zero food waste to landfill policy, with all surplus food waste from stores going to charities or AD to generate green energy. As part of the deal, Sainsbury's will also work with their suppliers to ensure that they have access to Tamar's new AD plants, which will reduce waste in the supply chain.

The project brings together UK and international blue chip partners and investors whose input and expertise will develop the business. The investor group is led by RIT Capital plc and Fajr Capital, alongside the Duchy of Cornwall, Lord Rothschild's Family Interests, Sustainable Technology Investments, Low Carbon Ltd, the management team of Tamar Energy and other private investors.

Sainsbury's Chief Executive Justin King said: "Sainsbury's is the UK's leading retail user of AD so we are delighted to be an investor and strategic partner of Tamar Energy. We will be working closely with our suppliers to ensure they have access to the new plants to help them reduce the environmental impact of their operations, a key strand of our 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan. With the support of our suppliers we are very confident that this new venture will be a success, helping build Tamar Energy into the UK's leading green energy company".

Tamar Energy will be headed by Alan Lovell as Executive Chairman. Mr Lovell was previously the Chief Executive of Infinis Limited, which produces some 10% of the UK's renewable energy, and over three years under Mr Lovell's leadership grew to EBITDA of £75m. Tamar Energy will be strengthened by the acquisition of Adgen Energy, which has an advanced pipeline of projects and a strong management team, including the previous CEO of BiogenGreenfinch, the AD specialist.

Iwould say trade is down 3% at all s/m

but the pound shops are up 5%

skin remember my posts sbry 291 cna 307 . i told you the useless CEO justin is killing this company last year nigh on 4m in pay for what he is dishonest . tesco as now got my money for shopping .

T, yes I remember both SBRY and CNA were trading around 296p with less than half a penny difference at the time you posted, the following week SBRY went 12p ahead of CNA, now the situation has reversed, in some part probably due to buying CNA before going ex-dividend.
2517

7 weeks til ex

just added 10518 at just under 290p

So how does that square with your post 110.
2517

i have enough cna for div paid in june now for july if i hold them as i say i will sell at 300p holding shares to long is silly

2517 if these fall to 278p i would buy enough 20000

I would be looking for a drop to 265p area before I add more. Missed that opportunity some time back. Good luck with CNA. Overall the market is still ahead of itself imo.
2517

3 month low is 280.30

12 month low is 258.00

Yes you're right skinny, around september last year intraday low of 258p
2517

well up 8p in less than a day

I sold out on taking a close look at the CEO justin king he is a failure just filling is own bank balance he is the worst CEO in any of the top 250 companys

what has gone wrong at sains even mrw are doing a lot better .
we know the ceo is useless but it now looks like board need to go
down over 25 % in the last 14 months and jk says the company is doing well
is the man insane

final div 11.20p ex div 16th may

RNS Number : 7411Z

Sainsbury(J) PLC

21 March 2012

Fourth Quarter Trading Statement for 10 weeks to 17 March 2012

Strong finish to a good year

-- Total sales for fourth quarter up 4.6 per cent (5.1 per cent excluding fuel(1) )
-- Like-for-like sales(2) for fourth quarter up 2.5 per cent (2.6 per cent excluding fuel(1) )
-- Like-for-like sales(2) for the year up 4.5 per cent (2.1 per cent excluding fuel(1) )
-- Achieved target 7.3 per cent gross space growth in the year
-- Convenience, online and non-food all growing ahead of market

Justin King, Chief Executive, said, "We delivered like-for-like sales of 2.6 per cent excluding fuel this quarter, completing a good performance for the year against a challenging backdrop. Our strategy of delivering universal customer appeal is succeeding in the current economic climate. Our unique own label ranges enable customers to save money when they need to and to treat themselves, their friends and families on special occasions. Through Brand Match, customers are increasingly aware of the great value Sainsbury's offers. They are inspired by Live Well for Less, which helps them find ways to make their money go further without compromising on quality. Our Nectar loyalty programme is a key source of customer insight, and we have signed a new long-term contract ensuring we retain this competitive advantage. We continue to outperform the market and gain market share.

Underpinning our performance is our quality food offer. We have invested over GBP85 million this year to make our fresh food better than ever, and this is delivering real results. Customers rate Sainsbury's best for great tasting food(3) . Our own label participation continues to lead the market(4) , reflecting Sainsbury's reputation for great quality at fair prices. Sales of basics grew by 10 per cent and Taste the Difference grew by almost 20 per cent. In the past year we have trained 18,000 of our colleagues in our Bakery and Food colleges, and their fantastic service, skills and expertise have resulted in sales from our counters growing faster than at any other retailer(5) .

We remain focused on ensuring our values make us different and are making good progress against the commitments we set out in our 20 by 20 sustainability plan. As the largest Fairtrade retailer in the world, we sold over GBP12 million of Fairtrade goods during Fairtrade Fortnight, 11 per cent more than last year. In the quarter we also announced our investment in Tamar Energy, a company set up to produce energy from organic waste. For the second year running Business in the Community has awarded Sainsbury's Platinum Plus status in its Corporate Responsibility Index, the top accolade.

Convenience, online and non-food are all growing ahead of the market, as our multi-channel offer means customers can do more of their shopping with Sainsbury's. Against difficult market conditions we are gaining market share in clothing and general merchandise. Our convenience business is growing at over 20 per cent, driven by a combination of new space and strong like-for-like sales growth. We are also the fastest growing online grocer. Sales continue to grow at over 20 per cent, with both basket size and order numbers increasing, and we now serve on average 165,000 customers a week. 'Click & Collect' is now in nearly 900 stores, with over half of customers choosing to pick up their online general merchandise orders in store.

In the quarter we added 170,000 square feet of gross new space, including two new supermarkets, three extensions, and 15 new convenience stores. This brings our total gross new space in the year to 1.4 million square feet, opening 19 new stores at an average size of just over 39,000 square feet, extending 28 stores by an average of 15,000 square feet, and opening 73 new convenience stores.

We have demonstrated that delivering quality and value is a compelling offer for customers. The economic climate is likely to remain challenging, and we are committed to helping customers make their money go as far as possible. Nonetheless, the Diamond Jubilee, Olympics and Paralympics are wonderful opportunities this year for the country to join together and celebrate, and we expect these to underpin our continued growth as customers trust Sainsbury's to make their celebrations really special. "

not one mention of share holders what pillock

Just closed here +26 - maybe a bit soon, but will do for me.

It's a trading statement, Tanker, and Mr King seems to have done quite well despite your best attempts to thwart him. Shareholders will figure in the annual report later on. A little bit of patience, please.

sold will look back in the near future made enough

Yes I see that T, 15th March post 121. Still holding on to mine.
2517

Still holding mine too.

Now George, fair play you didn't ask TANKER if he had sold ALL his shares on the 15th, you need to clarify at the time. Check out the RSA thread :O)

the answer is simple i never sell all i always keep enougn cash back to buy more if they dip below my low target

Tank - Probably sounds a bit pedantic to you, but would help to clarify if you actually stated Sold a % but still hold a few, rather than just saying SOLD.

Chris I read T's post 121 ''I sold out-----'', to be not of an ambiguous nature, especially as he went on to describe JK as the worst CEO in the top 250 co's.
I enjoy reading T's posts, no prevarication with him, and he appears to be a very generous guy to those who matter to him. T's investing style appears to be, buy for the dividend but sell before they go ex-div, thus reaping a capital gain from the upside in sp due to others buying for the divi. Good luck to him
The RSA thread I read and sometimes post, again an enjoyable thread.
2517

to make it clear i live on divs so i never sell my feed stock .
i then trade what ever i buy above the level i use for my living allowance .
hope that helps i take around 30k in divs per year ,
now to the budget osborne is going to it the pensioners on pensions of around 11k to 18k after 2014 the allowance is going it will be the income tax level of 10500 .
so the pensioners will kick out the torys in 2015 the gov must remember this pensioners can not get money by working they are old and not fit

tanks, not that it matters much, but i'm sure you contradicted that divi comment a week or two back ..... personally i'ld prefer capital gain 97% of the time

cynic you are right the only people buying shares for dividends used to be called investment trusts.

can't cope with you agreeing with me hali ROTFL

well the city does not like the budget

Supermarket chain Sainsbury reports annual profits on Wednesday -

- Of all of the big four supermarkets, Sainsbury's appears to faring the best. Only last week Morrisons published its first like-for-like sales fall in seven years, and Tesco 's woes have sent shock waves through the industry.

However, though trading appears to have been ticking along nicely at Sainsbury's, the figures are a little deceptive. In the last quarter of its financial year, sales increased by 2.3pc on a like-for-like basis. This is stronger than all of its competitors, but the measure includes the benefit of store extensions.

Some analysts fret that the company is spending too much about £1bn a year on capital expenditure and it should take a hint from Tesco and scale back its investment programme.

Justin King, chief executive, is unlikely to cut capital expenditure, but he is expected to highlight how tough the market remains.

Final Results.

Good sales and profit performance; outperforming the market

Financial summary

· Total sales (inc VAT) up 6.8 per cent to £24,511 million (2010/11: £22,943 million)
· Total sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 4.5 per cent, like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 2.1 per cent
· Underlying profit before tax up 7.1 per cent to £712 million (2010/11: £665 million) (1)
· Underlying basic earnings per share up 6.0 per cent to 28.1 pence (2010/11: 26.5 pence) (2)
· Return on capital employed of 11.1 per cent (2010/11: 11.1 per cent) (3)
· Proposed full year dividend of 16.1 pence, up 6.6 per cent, cover 1.75x (2010/11: 15.1 pence, cover 1.75x)

Statutory

· Revenue (ex VAT, inc fuel) up 5.6 per cent to £22,294 million (2010/11: £21,102 million)
· Profit before tax down 3.4 per cent to £799 million (2010/11: £827 million)
· Basic earnings per share down 7.0 per cent to 32.0 pence (2010/11: 34.4 pence)

Operating highlights

· Outperformed the market, increasing market share to 16.6 per cent, the highest for nearly a decade (4)
· Price perception on branded groceries improving, driven by Brand Match
· New contract signed with Nectar, a key source of customer insight and loyalty
· Delivered over £100 million of operational cost savings
· Improved underlying operating margin by 4 bps (10 bps at constant fuel prices)
· Sector leader in FTSE4Good Index; top sector scorer across all dimensions
· Supermarket of the Yearand Convenience Chain of the Year at the 2011 Retail Industry Awards

Strategy highlights

· Great food: Good growth in our own label ranges, with Taste the Difference up 8.2 per cent and basics up 6.8 per cent. Over half way through re-launch of our core by Sainsbury's range with 3,700 products new or improved
· Compelling general merchandise and clothing: Continues to grow faster than our food business, gaining market share
· Complementary channels and services: £1.3 billion convenience business growing total and like-for-like sales well ahead of the market. Fastest-growing online food retailer with 20 per cent growth, now a £0.8 billion business. Click & Collect in over 900 stores with around 50 per cent of general merchandise orders now through this channel
· Developing new business: Sainsbury's Bank enjoyed another successful year with a 40 per cent increase in pre-tax operating profit
· Growing space and creating property value: Opened a further 1.4 million sq ft of gross space, adding 19 new supermarkets, 73 convenience stores and 28 store extensions. Property now valued at £11.2 billion(5)

..Questor share tip: J Sainsbury is focus on what matters for shareholders

By Garry White | Telegraph – 8 hours ago

Sometimes going all-out for growth is not in a company's best interests. The decision by J Sainsbury to slow its rate of store opening looks good for investors.

J Sainsbury 305.3p +4 Questor says BUY

The company has undergone a significant growth spurt in recent times, with retail space growing by a quarter over the past four years. The supermarket group will now expand its floor space by about 5pc a year. This will allow a better focus on cash management that should reward shareholders through higher dividends.

Indeed, Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) is already yielding a tidy amount. In the year to March 2013 the prospective yield is 5.4pc, rising to 5.8pc next year. This should continue to support the share price.

Areas where the business is now focusing for growth are its convenience store format and its online offering.

Britain's third-largest grocer has lured shoppers into its stores with cheaper own-brand labels and has also gained market share in non-food. This meant that it managed to outperform the market over the past year, raising its market share to 16.6pc, the highest for nearly a decade.

In the year to March 17, total sales including VAT jumped 6.8pc to £24.5bn, although pre-tax profits slipped to £799m from £827m. However, when one-off items are excluded, profits rose 7.11pc to £712m.

The final dividend of 11.6p will be paid on July 13. This brings the annual payout to 16.1p, a rise of 6.6pc. Sainsbury now plans to increase the dividend cover to 2 times from 1.75 over the medium term, which will add to its already significant yield.

Of course, there are risks. The sector is getting increasingly competitive, with Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) determined to fight back after its January profit warning.

The shares are trading on a March 2013 earnings multiple of 10.7, falling to 9.8 the following year. The average price target of the 13 City analysts monitored by Bloomberg is 311.15p, only marginally above current price.

First (OTC BB: FSTC.OB - news) tipped at 297.6p on November (Stuttgart: A0Z24E - news) 10 last year, and with the renewed focus on shareholder returns following the reining back of expansion plans and the support offered by the current yields, Questor remains confident with a buy rating

next week will see another instalment in the battle between supermarket giants Sainsbury and Tesco as both issue trading updates. Panmure Gordon thinks Sainsbury's headline numbers will look a lot better than Tesco's, especially as Sainsbury's figures will include the benefit of the jubilee week-end. "We look for like-for-like sales growth of just over 2% (ex-fuel), compared with 2.6% in Q4 and 1.0% in Q1 last year. This would equate to similar two year growth to that achieved in Q4 (excluding the impact of VAT)," Panmure Gordon said.

Acquisition


Sainsbury's has today announced the acquisition of HMV Group plc's shareholding in Anobii Limited, a social network and online retailer of e-books. As a result of the transaction and Sainsbury's investment in the future development of the business, it is anticipated that Sainsbury's will have a 64% stake in Anobii.

Trading Statement.

First Quarter Trading Statement for the 12 weeks to 9 June 2012

Good sales performance in a challenging market

· Total sales for first quarter up 3.6 per cent (3.8 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for first quarter up 1.4 per cent (1.4 per cent excluding fuel)

· Continued strong growth in convenience and online

Rumours yesterday that Qataris may be mulling a fresh bid. They own 26% of the retailer. They may be contemplating making a proposal of between 450p - 500p a share for the supermarket.

:-))

Trading Statement

Good sales delivering continued outperformance

· Total sales for second quarter up 4.3 per cent (4.4 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for second quarter up 1.9 per cent (1.9 per cent excluding fuel)

· Total sales for the first half up 4.0 per cent (4.1 per cent excluding fuel) and like-for-like sales up 1.7 per cent (1.7 per cent excluding fuel)

Written off in the past, Sainsbury's is now catching up fast. The supermarket has been increasing sales one quarter after another for eight years. The shares now trade at their highest point in over a year.

The most encouraging aspect of Sainsbury's renaissance has been its success in growing market share. The most recent survey from Kantar Worldpanel showed Sainsbury's has a 16.6% share of the domestic groceries market.

Despite this success and peer outperformance, few analysts currently rate Sainsbury's shares a buy. It could be that confidence in the sector as a whole has been hit by turbulence at Tesco.

Half Yearly Report

Financial summary

· Total sales (inc VAT, inc fuel) up 4.0 per cent to £13,365 million (2011/12: £12,848 million)

· Total sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 4.1 per cent

· Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 1.7 per cent

· Underlying profit before tax(1) up 5.4 per cent to £373 million (2011/12: £354 million)

· Underlying basic earnings per share(2) up 9.4 per cent to 15.2 pence (2011/12: 13.9 pence)

· Return on capital employed(3) of 10.9 per cent (2011/12: 10.9 per cent)

· Interim dividend of 4.8 pence per share, up 6.7 per cent (2011/12: 4.5 pence per share)

Statutory

· Revenue (ex VAT, inc fuel) up 4.0 per cent to £12,160 million (2011/12: £11,693 million)

· Profit before tax up 2.5 per cent to £405 million (2011/12: £395 million)

· Basic earnings per share up 4.9 per cent to 17.0 pence (2011/12: 16.2 pence)

Operating highlights

· Outperformed the market, increasing market share to 16.7 per cent(4), the highest for nearly a decade, completing 31 consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth

· Nearly 250 million Brand Match coupons printed since its launch a year ago, with 'Cheaper Here Today' coupons issued over 50 per cent of the time

· Celebrated ten year partnership with Nectar, a continuing source of customer insight and loyalty

· Operational cost savings of around £60 million, on track for around £100 million for the full-year

· Underlying operating margin unchanged (up 1 basis point at constant fuel prices)

· Five awards at the Retail Industry Awards 2012 including Supermarket of the Year for the fifth time in seven years and Convenience Chain of the Year for the third year in a row

· World sector leader for food retailers for the sixth consecutive year in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Strategy highlights

· Great food: Continued investment and growth in own-brand, with penetration increasing at a faster rate than any other major supermarket. We are 85 per cent of the way through the re-launch of our core by Sainsbury's range which will see 6,500 new or improved products introduced by April 2013

· Compelling general merchandise and clothing: Goes from strength to strength, currently growing three times faster than our food business and gaining market share

· Complementary channels and services: Online continues to perform strongly, growing at over 20 per cent, with grocery orders regularly exceeding 165,000 a week. Our convenience business is expanding by one to two stores each week and is enjoying almost 20 per cent year-on-year growth. Sainsbury's Bank continues to make strong progress, with our share of joint venture post-tax profit up from £7 million to £12 million

· Developing new business: Announced I2C, a joint venture company with Aimia, owners of Nectar. Launched our MP3 music download service; acquired a majority stake in Anobii e-book platform; announced a video on demand service powered by Rovi

· Growing space and creating property value: During the half-year we opened 351,000 sq ft of space, comprising five supermarkets, 49 convenience stores and three extensions. Property profits from sale and leaseback activity were £48 million

J Sainsbury has something to boast about
3:24 pm
Being the UK's third largest supermarket chain doesn’t make J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) the third best. The group’s market share is near a decade high and like-for-like sales have seen 31 quarters of consecutive growth.

In the year to the end of September the market share of Sainsbury’s increased to 16.7% from a figure of 16.6% the year before. This might not sound like much but in the hyper-competitive UK supermarket space it provides something to boast about.

The group also saw like-for-like sales (excluding fuel) increase by 1.7% in the six months to September which compares to a 0.6% decline at market leader Tesco. This has served to bolster Sainsbury’s bottom line with a 4% H1 increase in operating profits.

Supermarket groups are at a crossroads with rapid space expansion being called into question. However, smaller convenience stores are seeing growth while financial services and non-food offer opportunities.

For investors Sainsbury’s offers a relatively defensive stock although its expansion into non-food is at risk of competitive attack from Internet only firms. Sainsbury’s also stands out for its strong balance sheet that is supported by £11.2bn of properties.

With a business that is focused on the UK only it is perhaps no surprise that Sainsbury’s has stole a march on some of its rivals. Like-for-like sales at the group were up a respectable 1.7% in H1 albeit with a 0.8% boost from store extensions.

With net new space of 2.4% the group saw total sales growth of 4.1% in the six months to the end of September. In the second half of the year the like-for-like sales are set to be in-line with last year while the contribution from new space is forecast at 2%.

Total gross space is set to increase 5% this financial year with Sainsbury’s opening 1-2 new convenience stores a week. In fact convenience stores are growing at almost 20% a year with 49 new stores in the first half.

A key area of this is clothing with Sainsbury’s partnering with the group’s Tu clothing range achieving its best every sales on Saturday 29th September. Other areas being developed are internet grocery shopping which is growing at 20% a year and Sainsbury’s Bank which saw JV profits up a third.

For investors any success in sales is only relevant if it translates into the bottom line. Sainsbury’s saw an in-line performance with revenue growth of 4% generating operating profit growth of 4% in the first half.

In terms of the balance sheet Sainsbury’s stands out for its robust property portfolio that was valued at £11.2bn. Net debt was £2.2bn as of the end of September while net interest cover was a sturdy 7.3X.

The stock trades on 11.3X forecast earnings for the year to March 13 which falls to 10.9X for the following year. Meanwhile the dividend yield for the current year is 4.9% which increases to 5.2% for next year

Oriel note today:
"Has the Olympic torch burnt out for Sainsbury’s? Sainsbury’s enjoyed a very strong 2012 as a whole and generally won market share. However we think that things have got much tougher here since the Interims, and we think that the decision to offer 10p a litre off petrol for £60 spenders from 27th December to 2nd January is a response to an uninspiring Christmas. Our own view is that prices have been rising here, and therefore a slowdown in overall LFL sales implies a decent (and a little worrying) deceleration in volumes. In Q2, LFL was 1.9%. This run-rate was expected to slow as the contribution from extensions diminishes in this quarter (from 0.8% to 0.2%), and the comparative is slightly tougher. Our initial ballpark Q3 LFL thinking was 1.0-1.5%. However having spoken to the company it’s clear that this is on the optimistic side. Non-food was showing around 4% LFL in Q2 but this has slowed. November didn’t look good from a food perspective from the Kantar data, and it seems as though December has continued the same trend.
The company reports on 10th January: we now expect LFL to be around 0.75%, which implies a volume slowdown from -1% to -3%. Management states that it did not repeat some of the margin sapping promotions from last year, so the bottom line picture will probably prove to be OK for now, but we think that it is highly significant that Sainsbury’s has introduced a petrol voucher when most shoppers are suffering from promotion-blindness. LFL will have to pick up in Q4, or FY PBT consensus of £742m (we’re on £745m) is in trouble. More at risk still would be the 7% PBT growth we expect for 2013/14, in the presence of sustained LFL volume declines. In the short term, the shares look vulnerable."

Sainsbury , Britain's No. 3 grocer, has guided to second-half like-for-like sales growth similar to the 1.7 percent in its first half. For its third-quarter update, expected Wednesday, analysts forecast like-for-like growth of about 0.9 percent.

Trading Statement

Good sales, outperforming in a tough market

· Total sales for third quarter up 3.9 per cent (3.3 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for third quarter up 1.5 per cent (0.9 per cent excluding fuel)

· Record breaking Christmas, reflecting 32 consecutive quarters of like-for-like growth

· Multi-channel strategy continues to deliver strongly

Justin King, Chief Executive, said, "This Christmas we have helped more customers than ever to Live Well for Less, delivering another quarter of good sales in a challenging retail environment, increasing market share. Like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 0.9 per cent, which was on top of a very strong Christmas last year, giving a two year like-for-like growth figure of 2.9 per cent.

Oversold?

Sainsbury and Tesco confirmed as top food retailers going into 2013
By Natasha Roberts

Tue 15 Jan 2013

Sainsbury (J) 321.90p -1.14%

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Sainsbury has been confirmed as the joint top performing food retailer going into 2013, alongside Tesco, following a report by market researcher Kantar Worldpanel.

According to data published Tuesday, both companies delivered a 3.9% cash sales growth rate in the six weeks to January 6th, with market share at the same levels seen a year ago.

For Tesco this compares with four-week growth of 4.2%, indicating that momentum slowed somewhat, while Sainsbury's four-week cash sales grew 3.7%, meaning Tesco is still the frontrunner.

Meanwhile, Morrison's Christmas like-for-like sales dropped 2.5% in the six weeks to December 30th, and cash sales declined 1.0% in the six weeks to January 6th.

The six-week figure for Asda came in at 2.1%, compared to 2.5% for the four-week figure.

Together, the four major grocers delivered growth of 2.7% in the six week period.

Kantar Worldpanel Director Edward Garner said: "This represents a clear improvement in Tesco's fortunes following a series of share dips in 2012, but it is also a strong performance from Sainsbury's which had been predicted to suffer disproportionately from the Tesco fight-back by some commentators."

The ONS food inflation rate was also released Tuesday, revealing that it remained at a relatively high level of 3.6% in December, compared to 3.7% the previous month.

Food inflation is expected by most companies to accelerate in the early stages of 2013.

Trading Statement

Fourth Quarter Trading Statement for 10 weeks to 16 March 2013

Strong sales, reflecting continued market outperformance

· Total sales for fourth quarter up 7.1 per cent (6.3 per cent excluding fuel)
· Like-for-like sales for fourth quarter up 4.2 per cent (3.6 per cent excluding fuel)
· Like-for-like sales for year up 2.1 per cent (1.8 per cent excluding fuel)
· Weekly customer transactions increased by over 800,000 year-on-year
· Achieved target of c.5% gross space growth for the year

Broker snap: UBS hikes forecasts for Sainsbury ahead of results
Thu 02 May 2013


Broker snap: UBS hikes forecasts for Sainsbury ahead of results LONDON (SHARECAST) - Another solid increase in profits is expected from Sainsbury when it reports its first-half report on May 8th, according to UBS which lifted its estimates for the supermarket giant on Thursday.

The broker, which kept a 'buy' rating for the stock, lifted its full-year profit before tax estimate by 5.2% to £749m, ahead of the consensus forecast for £746m.

"This represents a good outturn given industry demand conditions have remained depressed while key competitors have experienced profitability declines in the equivalent period," UBS said.

Furthermore, the broker said that guidance for the full-year ending March 2014 is likely to follow the same pattern as the year just gone. It expects mid-single-digit sales growth and ongoing tight cost control to result in another year of "decent progress in earnings".

"In our view Sainsbury’s returns metrics have remained impressively resilient (flat since FY10) given the abnormally weak industry backdrop (ie persistent volume declines) and a period of heavy capex/space expansion which naturally has a dilutive effect given property lag effects and store maturity profiles.

"Looking ahead we think it is plausible that Sainsbury’s returns will resume their upwards trajectory in FY14, providing tangible validation for the investment strategy."

The target price for the shares has been lifted from 400p to 425p.

The stock was up 0.52% at 384p by 10:59.

Sainsbury's Bank

In accordance with DTR 1 1.3.6, the Company made the following statement at 3pm on Sunday 5 May 2013:

J Sainsbury's notes the press speculation concerning Sainsbury's Bank and confirms it is in advanced negotiations with Lloyds Banking Group to take full ownership of Sainsbury's Bank. A further announcement will be made in due course.


END

Final Results

Financial summary
· Total sales (inc VAT) up 4.6 per cent to £25,632 million (2011/12: £24,511 million)
· Total sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 4.3 per cent, like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 1.8 per cent
· Underlying profit before tax up 6.2 per cent to £756 million (2011/12: £712 million)(1)
· Underlying basic earnings per share up 9.3 per cent to 30.7 pence (2011/12: 28.1 pence)(2)
· Return on capital employed of 11.2 per cent (2011/12: 11.1 per cent)(3)
· Proposed full year dividend of 16.7 pence, up 3.7 per cent, cover 1.83 times (2011/12: 16.1 pence, cover 1.75 times)

Statutory
· Revenue (ex VAT, inc fuel) up 4.5 per cent to £23,303 million (2011/12: £22,294 million)
· Profit before tax down 1.4 per cent to £788 million (2011/12: £799 million)(4)
· Profits excluded from underlying results down from £87 million to £32 million, reflecting fewer property disposals
· Basic earnings per share up 1.9 per cent to 32.6 pence (2011/12: 32.0 pence)

Operating highlights
· Outperformed the market, increasing market share to 16.8 per cent, the highest for a decade(5), driven by 33 consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth
· Delivered over £100 million of operational cost savings
· Improved underlying operating margin by 2 bps to 3.56 per cent (2 bps at constant fuel prices)
· Price perception continues to improve, driven by competitive pricing, targeted promotions and offers via Nectar and Brand Match
· Awarded:
o Supermarket of the Year, for the fifth time in seven years - Retail Industry Awards
o Convenience Chain of the Year, for the third year in a row - Retail Industry Awards
o Online Retailer of the Year - The Grocer
o Employer of the Year - Retail Week
o World Sector Leader, for the sixth consecutive year - Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Strategy highlights
· Great food:We continue to invest in our supply chain and sourcing credentials, including initiatives such as our Farmer Development Groups and Fairtrade. Own-brand sales are outperforming the market and growing faster than brands, and the re-launch of our core range, by Sainsbury's, is now complete. Over 20,000 colleagues have benefited from City & Guilds accredited training in our seven food colleges.
· Compelling general merchandise & clothing: Our non-food offer goes from strength to strength, growing at over twice the rate of our food business and gaining market share. In February, we reached the milestone of £1 billion annual sales from general merchandise, reflecting the investment we have made in the quality of our offer, in-store experience and non-food space.
· Complementary channels & services: Our established multi-channel strategy continues to enable customers to shop where, when and how they want. Annual grocery online sales are almost £1 billion and convenience store sales are now over £1.5 billion. Today we have announced that an agreement has been reached to take full ownership of Sainsbury's Bank by acquiring Lloyds Banking Group's 50 per cent shareholding for £248 million, which comprises a cash consideration for the shares of £193 million(6) and the purchase of £55 million of loan stock. The Bank continues to make strong progress, with our share of joint venture post-tax profit up 38 per cent from £16 million to £22 million.
· Developing new business: Pharmacy continues to be an area of growth with over 270 now in stores, complemented by 37 NHS GP or nurse-led surgeries in-store; we also operate outpatient pharmacies in three major hospitals. We announced I2C, a joint venture company with Aimia, owners of Nectar, and acquired a majority stake in Anobii e-book platform, now operating as eBooks by Sainsbury's.
· Growing space & creating property value: During the year we opened one million sq ft of gross new space, adding 14 supermarkets, eight extensions and 87 convenience stores. Property profits were £66 million and our portfolio is now valued at £11.5 billion. Over the past five years, we have disposed of £1.3 billion of property, monetising property profits of £341 million, while the value of our portfolio has increased by £4 billion.

JP Morgan Cazenove Underweight 0.00 360.00 360.00 Reiterates

Nomura Neutral 0.00 355.00 380.00 Reiterates

Morgan Stanley Overweight 0.00 400.00 400.00 Retains

Charles Stanley Accumulate 0.00 - - Reiterates

Tradenext Buy 0.00 500.00 500.00 Reiterates

Credit Suisse Underperform 0.00 285.00 285.00 Reiterates

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Neutral 0.00 400.00 400.00 Retains

Morgan Stanley Overweight 0.00 400.00 400.00 Retains

Top of the shops: Sainsbury is Morgan Stanley's pick from the basket
By Ian Lyall May 22 2013, 12:45pm Aubin points out the UK’s major grocers are spending significantly more expanding their floor-space than their European rivals, with selling space now exceeding grocery volumesAubin points out the UK’s major grocers are spending significantly more expanding their floor-space than their European rivals, with selling space now exceeding grocery volumes

Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) is the only share worth owning in the UK food retail space, according to Morgan Stanley, which has given a rather dour assessment of the sector.

“Given likely further compression of return on capital invested for the sector over the next two years, we view the UK food retail sector as unattractive at current valuations,” said analyst Edouard Aubin in a note to clients.

Market leader Tesco (LON:TSCO) and Morrisons (LON:MRW) are rated ‘underweight’ by Morgan Stanley, while it remains ‘overweight’ Sainsbury.

Aubin points out the UK’s major grocers are spending significantly more expanding their floor-space than their European rivals, with selling space now exceeding grocery volumes.

He says he expects the industry to “remain rational from a pricing standpoint”, which in layman’s terms means the analyst doesn’t expect a margin-sapping price war for customers.

This, Aubin said, is principally because Tesco is attempting “protect its P&L” (profits). However he warned: “[We] think something will nevertheless have to give as supply outstrips demand, and we expect further decline in asset turn.”

The research suggests that of the ‘big four’ supermarket groups (the fourth is Asda, owned by Wal-Mart), Tesco (LON:TSCO) has the most to lose from the current shake-out in the sector and as its rivals continue to flex their muscle.

Unsettling for the management of Britain’s largest retailer is research from Morgan Stanley that suggests Tesco has seen the sharpest decline of the majors in the value for money ratings.

The American bank’s price target for Tesco is 310 pence (current price 383 pence), while it said Morrisons is worth 225 pence (281 pence) and Sainsbury 400 pence (387 pence).

“We believe that Sainsbury will continue to outperform the market in terms of sales momentum given that, in Brand Match, it has found a way to tackle its biggest problem – price perception,” Aubin added.

“However, as our latest Alphawise survey showed, there is still a large gap between Sainsbury’s price perception and price reality.

“As such, we think there is still more to go for (Sainsbury still has lower grocery sales per sq ft than its main competitors Tesco, Morrisons’ and Asda) despite operating a larger share of its store network in the richest part of the UK).”

Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) 's

We'll have a first-quarter update from J Sainsbury on Wednesday, and hopes are high for this year. The UK's second biggest supermarket posted nice full-year results for the year to March 2013 in May, revealing a 4.6% rise in sales with underlying pre-tax profit up 6.2%. Underlying earnings per share rose 9% to 30.7p, enabling a full-year dividend of 16.7p per share -- and that provided a yield of 4.6%.

Forecasts for this year paint a similar picture, with a 6% rise in earnings per share predicted. There's also a 4.7% rise in the dividend to about 17.5p penciled in, which should be well covered, and it would provide a similar 4.6% yield on the current price.

And that price? Well, it's slipped a bit over the past couple of weeks along with the FTSE in general, but at 363p it's still up 25% over the past 12 months, and is ahead of the index.

Trading Statement

Solid sales performance in a challenging market

· Total sales for first quarter up 3.6 per cent (3.3 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for first quarter up 0.7 per cent (0.8 per cent excluding fuel)

· Market share up 0.2 percent to 16.8 per cent

· Winner of the prestigious Grocer 33 Customer Service and Availability Awards

Questor share tip: Hold J Sainsbury as it powers ahead
J Sainsbury is the best performing supermarket this year. Questor says hold.
Garry White By Garry White
6:00AM BST 16 Jun 2013

The supermarket’s first-quarter update revealed same-store sales rose 0.7pc, or 0.8pc excluding fuel. This represented a quarter-on-quarter slowdown from

3.6pc, but it is a much better performance than its rivals. Such “lumpy” quarters are to be expected, but it is reassuring that the group maintained its guidance of like-for-like sales increasing by 1pc to 1.5pc over the year.

One particular bright spot is the success of its own-brand products. Sales of its high-end “Taste the Difference” range jumped 10pc and crossed the £1bn sales mark for the first time. This helped to boost the group’s market share by 0.2 percentage points to 16.8pc.

Non-food continues to grow at more than twice the rate of food. Rivals have had problems with their non-food offering, but Sainsbury’s is sensibly not focusing on the low-margin, competitive electronic goods space, but on items such as homewares, cooking utensils and greetings cards, which have solid margins.
Indeed, in last week’s statement, management said that its non-food offering was helping to boost overall market share.

For the rest of the year, trading is likely to remain tough, but Sainsbury’s management is delivering. Questor recommended a purchase below 300p when the shares were yielding about 5.5pc. They have recovered to trade on a multiple of 11.6 and a forward yield of 4.7pc. Hold.

Any particular reason for the advance this afternoon?
393 plus as I write.

Here's the reason: UBS has added the supermarket to its Global top 40 list.

Trading Statement

Second Quarter Trading Statement for the 16 weeks to 28 September 2013

Strong sales delivering continued outperformance

· Total sales for second quarter up 5.0 per cent (4.6 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for second quarter up 2.1 per cent (2.0 per cent excluding fuel)

· Total sales for the first half up 4.4 per cent (4.0 per cent excluding fuel) and like-for-like sales up 1.5 per cent (1.4 per cent excluding fuel)

Sainsbury's takes price comparison spat with Tesco to high court

LONDON | Wed Oct 30, 2013 5:40am GMT
(Reuters) - Supermarket J Sainsbury will take its spat over price comparisons with Tesco to Britain's high court, challenging a ruling by the advertising watchdog in favour of its rival.

Britain's supermarkets are battling intensely for market share in tough economic conditions. Advertising is a major battleground.

Interim Results

Financial summary(1)
· Total sales (inc VAT, inc fuel) up 4.4 per cent to £13,953 million (2012/13: £13,365 million)
· Total sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 4.0 per cent
· Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 1.4 per cent
· Underlying profit before tax(2) up 7.0 per cent to £400 million (2012/13: £374 million)
· Underlying basic earnings per share(3) up 9.2 per cent to 16.6 pence (2012/13: 15.2 pence)
· Return on capital employed(4) of 11.4 per cent (2012/13: 10.8 per cent)
· Return on capital employed excluding pension fund deficit(5) of 10.5 per cent (2012/13: 10.3 per cent)
· Interim dividend of 5.0 pence, up 4.2 per cent (2012/13: 4.8 pence)

Statutory
· Revenue (ex VAT, inc fuel) up 4.3 per cent to £12,684 million (2012/13: £12,160 million)
· Profit before tax up 9.1 per cent to £433 million (2012/13: £397 million)
· Basic earnings per share up 8.5 per cent to 17.9 pence (2012/13: 16.5 pence)

Operating performance
· Outperformed the market, increasing market share to 16.8 per cent(6), the highest for a decade, completing 35 consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth
· Excellent customer service levels winning 15 out of 28 Grocer 33 Service and Availability awards
· Operational cost savings of around £55 million, on track for around £100 million for the full year
· Improved underlying operating margin by 7 bps to 3.47 per cent (up 6 bps at constant fuel prices)
· Supermarket of the Year (6th time in eight years) and Convenience Chain of the Year (4th consecutive year), Retail Industry Awards. Online Retailer of the Year (2nd consecutive year), Grocer Gold Awards
· FTSE 100 Business of the Year, National Business Awards
· Defined benefit pension fund triennial valuation complete resulting in funding deficit of £592 million, a £635 million improvement on the 2009 valuation. Recovery plan agreed in 2009 remains unchanged

Strategy
· Great Food:Own-brand growing at over twice the rate of branded goods, by Sainsbury's re-launched and Taste the Difference showing double-digit growth. Achieved 100 per cent British fresh pork, to complement our existing 100 per cent British fresh chicken and 100 per cent British or Irish fresh beef
· Compelling General Merchandise and Clothing: Strong growth at around twice the rate of food sales. Successfully re-launched Tu clothing brand and extended by Sainsbury's brand into general merchandise
· Complementary Channels and Services: Groceries online growing at over 15 per cent, with over £1 billion in annualised sales and orders regularly exceeding 180,000 a week. Plans announced for an online fulfilment centre at Bromley-by-Bow. Convenience growing at over 20 per cent, opening around two new stores each week. Sainsbury's Bank remains on track to move to full ownership by the end of January 2014
· Developing New Business: Launched Mobile by Sainsbury's and opened fourth hospital out-patient pharmacy
· Growing Space and Creating Property Value: Opened 393,000 sq ft of space over the half-year, comprising six supermarkets, 50 convenience stores and two extensions. Property profits were £18 million. Property value up £0.3 billion from March 2013 to £11.8 billion. Following a review of our property pipeline we have identified some sites where we no longer wish to build a supermarket, resulting in a £92 million impairment within one-off items

Sainsbury Market Share Slips for First Time Since January

LONDON--J. Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN), the U.K.'s third largest supermarket chain, saw its market share fall for the first time since January, as discount retailer Aldi's rise continues unabated with almost a third of British households shopping in its stores over the past 12 weeks.

"The number of shoppers visiting Aldi has grown by 16% year-on-year at the same time as the average basket size has swelled by nearly 15%," said Edward Garner at Kantar Worldpanel, which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K. "In fact, almost a third of British households have shopped in Aldi in the past 12 weeks," he added.

Trading Update Tomorrow.

Barclays Capital Overweight 362.55 440.00 440.00 Reiterates
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Underperform 362.55 430.00 350.00 Downgrades
HSBC Neutral 362.55 415.00 415.00 Reiterates
Morgan Stanley Overweight 362.55 415.00 415.00 Retains
Deutsche Bank Hold 362.55 410.00 410.00 Reiterates

Trading Statement

Third Quarter Trading Statement for the 14 weeks to 4 January 2014

Good sales performance in a tough market

· Total sales for third quarter up 2.5 per cent (2.7 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for third quarter flat (0.2 per cent excluding fuel)

· 28 million customer transactions in the seven day run up to Christmas

· Strong sales growth in Taste the Difference over the Christmas period

Barclays Capital Overweight 361.15 440.00 440.00 Reiterates

Directorate Change

Sainsbury's announces Justin King to step down;
Mike Coupe appointed CEO from 9 July 2014

Sainsbury's today announces that Justin King has decided to step down in July 2014 after 10 years as CEO, and that Mike Coupe, currently the Group Commercial Director, will succeed him as CEO.

David Tyler, Chairman said: "Justin is a truly exceptional leader, who has reshaped Sainsbury's during his 10 years as CEO, as well as playing a leading role in the sector and wider business world. The Board thanks him for his outstanding achievements in 'Making Sainsbury's Great Again'. He leaves a lasting legacy, with the Company stronger than ever.

"We are delighted to appoint a CEO of Mike's unique talent and experience as Justin's successor to lead the next chapter of Sainsbury's history. No one knows Sainsbury's - or the industry - better than Mike. He has worked hand-in-hand with Justin over the past decade and has a proven track record of success making him the natural choice to take the Company forward."

Justin King, CEO said: "This was not an easy decision for me to make, and in truth it will never feel like the right time to leave a company like Sainsbury's. It has been a privilege to have led the Company for the past 10 years and I am incredibly proud of our achievements in that time. It is the 157,000 colleagues that make Sainsbury's so special and I would like to thank them for their amazing efforts over the last decade in making Sainsbury's great again. I am confident that under Mike's leadership the business will go from strength to strength."

Mike Coupe, CEO designatesaid: "It's an absolute honour to be appointed as the new CEO of Sainsbury's in this, the Company's 145th year, and at a time when thanks to Justin's leadership, we have been consistently outperforming the market. I very much look forward to building on that success for our customers, colleagues, suppliers and shareholders."

Supermarkets generally weak today.
2517

Jefferies International Hold 307.90 410.00 350.00 Reiterates

Jumped on board today. SBRY is not MRW. Trading update next week should provoke a relief rally - I hope. In the meantime I've put a few in my ISA. Nice yield down at these levels.

Trading Statement

Fourth Quarter Trading Statement for 10 weeks to 15 March 2014

Declining sales in a tough market, continued outperformance of peers

· Total sales for fourth quarter down 1.5 per cent (down 1.0 per cent ex fuel)
· Like-for-like sales for fourth quarter down 3.8 per cent (down 3.1 per cent ex fuel)

Justin King, Chief Executive, said, "We have seen a decline in sales in the quarter reflecting tough comparatives. This time last year our sales benefited significantly from the discovery of horsemeat in some branded and competitors' products. We are pleased, however, that market data shows we have maintained market share at 17%1.

The market is now growing at its slowest rate since 2005, with falling food inflation in particular benefiting customers. The later timing of Easter and Mother's Day, which fall in quarter one of our new financial year, and unseasonable weather have also contributed to lower market growth year-on-year.

We continue to see growth in our own-brand ranges, significantly ahead of branded products, with penetration now at 51 per cent, versus 47 per cent for the market2. Our own-brand products are, on average, 20 per cent cheaper than a branded equivalent and are also supported by the values that our customers expect of us. We recently lowered the price of our milk, bread and eggs, but continue to pay a fair price to farmers through our Dairy Development Group, and only use British flour in our in-store bakeries and eggs from hens that are free to roam. Customers continue to tell us they recognise the uniqueness and value for money of our own-brand ranges.

Our general merchandise and clothing business continues to perform well, with particularly strong growth in menswear of over 23 per cent year-on-year. During the quarter we announced the renewal of our collaboration with the designer Gok Wan for a further 12 collections, and also released our eleventh collection of his ladieswear. Following successful trials, we have introduced our new general merchandise and clothing format into 53 stores, with a further 26 planned for the first quarter of the next financial year.

During the quarter we announced the completion of the acquisition of Lloyds Banking Group's share of Sainsbury's Bank, and are on track to complete the transition process as planned. We expect the Bank to become an increasingly important part of the value that customers receive from Sainsbury's, and another driver of customer loyalty.

Growth in our convenience business remains strong at over 15 per cent, and for the first time, during the quarter we saw one million transactions in a day. As well as opening around two new stores per week, we are part way through a programme to refit produce equipment in existing stores, responding to customer demand for more fresh food. Our groceries online business is growing at six per cent year-on-year, reflecting a reduction in marketing while the new customer website is launched. This roll-out is now 80 per cent complete and is due to finish in April.

Store operational standards and in-store execution remain high, as demonstrated by 21 wins over the financial year in the Grocer 33 award, with record high levels of availability.

We have opened approximately one million square feet of new space over the year, in line with our plans, including 22 convenience stores during the quarter. This brings a total for the year of 13 new supermarkets, 91 convenience stores and six extensions. We have also refurbished a further 54 stores.
Although some economic indicators are showing an improvement in the health of the economy, we expect the outlook for customers to continue to be challenging for the coming year. We remain confident that our differentiated offer, supported by 'value for values', Nectar data and Brand Match, will allow us to outperform our peers in the year ahead."

Found this comment over at Charles Stanley in one of their recent morning notes:

Sainsbury (SBRY: 314p) was the latest UK food retailer to come out with some pretty
shocking figures although its first quarterly decline in profits in nine years was not quite the surprise that the newspapers suggested. In fact, such has been the carnage in the sector that investors were patently relieved that the numbers were not even worse and the shares ended a choppy session with a gain of a couple of pence. The chart shows that they have spent the last few days hovering around the 300p level (having gapped dramatically lower last week) although it is still too early to suggest that a lasting bottom is in place. The salient point here is that a clearly-defined downtrend has developed over the last few months and while there is scope for further near-term upside (possibly to 330p) the overall technical picture is saying that it is still right to sell into strength.

Sharecast - Sainsbury’s is best placed to weather the supermarket price war but shareholder returns may be small, Danny Fortson wrote in the Sunday Times. In his Inside the City column, Fortson argued that Sainsbury’s was positioned to cope with the squeeze on the big grocers by German value chains Aldi and Lidl on one side and Waitrose at the posher end of the market. Bernstein analysts say Sainsbury’s has the longest established and best executed strategy. Tesco and Morrisons look “pretty desperate” Fortson said. "Some wars, of course, simply aren’t worth fighting,” Fortson concluded.

Sainsbury's faces £100m profit blow in price war as opening salvo is fired against discount Germans

By Neil Craven, Financial Mail On Sunday

Published: 22:19, 3 May 2014 | Updated: 22:19, 3 May 2014


Sainsbury's will plunge into the supermarket price war this week when it unveils annual results amid City fears that discounting will wipe billions of pounds off retailers’ profits in the coming year.


The ‘Big Four’ supermarkets – Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons – have all been affected by the exodus to German discounters Aldi and Lidl.


Sainsbury’s is expected to be hit by a wave of profit downgrades from City brokers this week following the opening salvo of cuts announced just days ago by Morrisons.





Discounting: Sainsbury's is expected to be hit by a wave of profit downgrades from City brokers


Discounting: Sainsbury's is expected to be hit by a wave of profit downgrades from City brokers



While the discounting is good for consumers as prices plummet, it is set to have a devastating effect on profits. Some analysts believe Sainsbury’s is preparing to launch price cuts and promotions worth up to £200million to defend itself.

Aldi and Lidl have grown rapidly over the past two years, capitalising on disillusionment among shoppers with the major supermarkets. Many sources estimate that the Germans are at least 15 per cent cheaper.



Two months ago Sainsbury’s chief Justin King, who leaves this summer, dismissed cuts at rivals as part of a ‘phoney’ price war.


But last week’s announcement by Morrisons that it would cut the price of 1,200 of its most popular items by an average of 17 per cent was widely seen by the City as a clear sign of structural change.


Reductions at Morrisons included slashing the price of Jammie Dodgers from £1.09 to 49p, eight cans of diet coke from £4.39 to £2.64 and Napolina chopped tomatoes from £1.25 to 79p.


Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips has compared the impact of Aldi and Lidl to the shockwaves that were sent through the airline sector by low-cost carriers such as easyJet and Ryanair.


Retail analyst Clive Black at stockbroker Shore Capital described the cuts as a ‘contagion’ and he predicted further downgrades across the sector.


Sainsbury’s is expected to report a slight increase in profit this week of about 4 per cent to £786million. But some analysts fear the chain’s profits could drop by up to £100million over the next 12 months.


Price cuts could also be funded by reduced spending on new stores. Some analysts forecast that Tesco’s profit could drop to as little as £2.5billion in the same period from a high two years ago of £3.9billion.

Final results

Financial summary (1)
· Underlying Group sales (inc VAT) up 2.8 per cent to £26,353 million (2012/13: £25,632 million)(2)
· Retail sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 2.7 per cent
· Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 0.2 per cent
· Underlying profit before tax up 5.3 per cent to £798 million (2012/13: £758 million)(3)
· Underlying basic earnings per share up 6.5 per cent to 32.8 pence (2012/13: 30.8 pence)(4)
· Return on capital employed up 19 bps to 11.3 per cent (2012/13: 11.1 per cent)(5)
· Return on capital employed excluding pension fund deficit of 10.4 per cent (2012/13: 10.4 per cent)(5)
· Proposed full year dividend of 17.3 pence, up 3.6 per cent, cover 1.90 times (2012/13: 16.7 pence, cover 1.84 times)

Statutory
· Group sales (ex VAT, inc fuel) up 2.8 per cent to £23,949 million (2012/13: £23,303 million)
· Profit before tax up 16.3 per cent to £898 million (2012/13: £772 million)
· Items excluded from underlying results contributed £100 million of profit (2012/13: £14 million profit)
· Basic earnings per share up 17.8 per cent to 37.7 pence (2012/13: 32.0 pence)

Operating performance
· Market share maintained in tough retail environment; still at highest for a decade at 16.8 per cent(6)
· Operational cost savings of around £120 million
· Capital expenditure reduced to £888 million (3.4 per cent of sales) and year end net debt £2.4 billion
· Underlying operating margin improved by 8 bps (up 7 bps at constant fuel prices)
· Acquisition of Sainsbury's Bank completed as planned on 31 January 2014; transition remains on track
· Defined benefit pension fund triennial valuation complete resulting in funding deficit of £592 million, a
£635 million improvement on the 2009 valuation. Recovery plan agreed in 2009 remains unchanged
· Awarded:
o FTSE100 Business of the Year 2013 - QBE National Business Awards
o Supermarket of the Year - Retail Industry Awards (sixth time in eight years)
o Online Retailer of the Year - Grocer Gold awards (second consecutive year)
o Convenience Retailer of the Year - Retail Industry Awards (fourth consecutive year)
o Gold Accreditation - Investors In People (only supermarket to achieve this)

Sharecast - City fund managers are betting on share falls for some of Britain’s top retailers including Sainsbury's, the Mail on Sunday reported. Odey Asset Management, Artemis Investment Management and Eton Park International are among funds that have gambled more than £1bn on shares in Sainsbury’s, WH Smith and Burberry falling. The retailers are in the top 15 companies short sold by investors as investors focus on companies with imminent or recent management changes.

Sainsbury’s is expected to report a rare fall in sales when it posts a trading statement on June 12th, according to the Sunday Times. Analysts expect sales at stores open at least a year to have fallen by between 1% and 1.5% in the first quarter of the supermarket group’s financial year, the second three-month period in which sales fell after nine years of gains. However, Sainsbury’s is faring better than its rivals among the big four UK supermarkets.

Wednesday's agenda: Sainsbury's outlook to be closely scrutinised
By Giles Gwinnett
June 10 2014, 6:08pm
Wednesday's agenda: Sainsbury's outlook to be closely scrutinised


Another day and another glimpse into the beleaguered world of Britain's supermarkets - as Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) posts a trading update.

It will cover group trading for the first quarter of its financial year - since March - and comes after full year results in May, which showed flat sales and modest profit growth.

"The share price retreated by 3% on the statement and has remained at similar levels since," notes broker Charles Stanley, who added that the supermarket's shares are no higher than they were five years ago.

"Market expectations are for dividend growth of 2% this year, predicated on subdued sales growth, a slightly lower profit margin and a broadly flat interest charge."

It says attention will focus on like-for-like sales performance and outlook comments.

The firm has high hopes for its convenience stores, of which it now has more than 600 (that's more than its larger stores) and it is opening two new ones each week.

The statement will show whether the expected growth from these businesses, is actually coming through, says the broker.

Sainsbury's casts a clothing net: Retailer set to take Next and ASOS with stand-alone fashion website

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 22:30, 9 June 2014 | Updated: 22:30, 9 June 2014


Popular: Over 7.5million customers bought Tu items last year


Sainsbury's is set to take on Next and ASOS by launching a stand-alone clothing website to showcase its TU brand.


The pilot site, which will begin in August in the Midlands, will offer home delivery and click & collect and is the first major initiative of Mike Coupe, who is taking over from Justin King as chief executive in July.


Sainsbury’s (up 2.5p at 328.6p) is expected to join rival Tesco in posting a disappointing first quarter sales update on Wednesday.


The pilot which could be rolled out around the country next year, if successful, is being supplied by the firm’s distribution centre in Bedford.


Sainsbury’s online director Robbie Feather, said: ‘Our customers want to shop with us through a range of channels that allow them to shop whenever and wherever they want and they’ve been asking us to extend our online service to our clothing.’





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The move is a strong signal that Sainsbury’s is putting more focus onto growing non-food ranges in a similar fashion to rival Asda, which sells the George brand.


Sainsbury’s began selling clothes in 1994. Last year more than 7.5million customers bought Tu items with sales of about £750million.

Trading Statement

First Quarter Trading Statement for 12 weeks to 7 June 2014

Continued growth in a challenging market

· Total Retail sales for first quarter up 1.0 per cent (ex fuel), down 0.3 per cent (inc fuel)
· Like-for-like Retail sales for first quarter down 1.1 per cent (ex fuel), down 2.4 per cent (inc fuel)
· Winner of Grocer 33 Customer Service and Availability Awards for the second consecutive year

I just read sainsbury's taking on asos and next...pretty good laugh.

311.4 long

already out. not working my way.

from a fashion point of view, Next is in a totally different league from ASOS ...... M&S fancy themselves taking on Next in that respect and fail dismally

Qataris could make renewed bid for Sainsbury's

Thu, 24 July 2014


Sainsbury's is expected to soon be approached with a bid from Qatari investors as the UK's biggest supermarkets comes under pressure from rivals, market sources told Sharecast/Digital Look on Thursday.

An announcement on the bid, which is understood to be about £5 a share, could come as soon as Friday, a person familiar with the situation said.

The Qatar Investment Authority in November 2007 walked away from its £10.6bn or 600p a share bid, saying credit markets had made raising funds too expensive.

Renewed speculation of an offer from Qataris came in March 2014 following a drop in the company's market share and stocks, due to competition from foreign discounters including Aldi and Lidl.

At the time Clive Black, head of research at Shore Capital, said in a note to clients that there is "more merit now than has been the case for some years for Sainsbury's largest investor to dust off 'the file' and consider a much more strategic investment, not least of which is an attractive annual cash return of an asset backed retailer".

In June Sainsbury's reported a 1.1% drop in first quarter like-for-like retail sales as the group gave a cautious outlook for consumer trends in the UK. Chief Executive Justin King blamed the fall on lower food price inflation and reduced fuel prices.

The UK's largest supermarkets, which also include Tesco and Morrisons, have been heavily slashing prices to regain market share from smaller discounters.

Sainsbury's declined to comment on the latest reports.

all that quatar bid chasers got washing pretty big time today

The Telegraph -


Short-sellers target Sainsbury's on Tesco fears


The new boss of Tesco is expected to reset margins, which is likely to his rival Sainsbury's

An employee works on a checkout at a Sainsbury's supermarket in Brentwood, Essex, UK

Sainsbury's share price has fallen, while the short interest in the stock has risen since the new boss of Tesco was unveiled Photo: Bloomberg News

By Ben Martin

5:54PM BST 09 Aug 2014



Short-sellers are targeting J Sainsbury amid fears that Tesco’s new chief executive will shake up the supermarket sector by resetting margins.


Since Dave Lewis was unveiled as the new boss of Tesco, the proportion of Sainsbury’s shares out on loan – a proxy for shorting – has risen and is approaching levels not seen since July 2006, when financial data group Markit began compiling its data.


Some 10.5pc of Sainsbury’s shares have been borrowed, up from 9.3pc on July 21, the day Tesco announced that Philip Clarke was being replaced by Mr Lewis as chief executive of Britain’s biggest retailer. Sainsbury’s is the single most shorted stock in the FTSE 100.


“The fear is that incoming CEOs of food retailers often reset margins and clearly there is a knock-on effect for everyone in the market,” said Exane BNP Paribas analyst Andrew Gwynn.


“The reason why people jump on Sainsbury’s is that its balance sheet and operational free cashflow used to be the weakest.”



A host of hedge funds are betting against Sainsbury’s, including Lansdowne Partners, Marshall Wace and Odey Asset Management.

Short-sellers profit from falling share prices by borrowing stock and then selling it, in the hope that they will be able to buy it back at a lower price and pocket the difference.

Sainsbury’s shares have fallen 6.9pc since Tesco unexpectedly unveiled its new boss, while Morrisons is down 4.7pc. The proportion of Morrisons shares on loan has edged up to 7.6pc from 7.2pc during the same period.

While shares in Tesco, which sounded a profit warning at the same time as naming its new boss, have dropped 13.3pc and hit a 10-year low, the percentage of shares that have been borrowed has also dipped to 2.2pc from 2.6pc.

Tuesday tips round-up: Sainsburys, Berkeley Group

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Tuesday tips round-up: Sainsburys, Berkeley Group



Sainsbury (J) Quote more






Price: 294.70

Chg: 5.20

Chg %: 1.80%

Date: 16:40



FTSE 100 Quote


Price: 6,824.18 Chg: 3.86 Chg %: 0.06% Date: 16:48

Sainsbury's full-year dividend pay-out of 17.3p per share is covered almost twice by its earnings. Indeed, the group's chief financial officer thinks the balance sheet is strong, but The Daily Telegraph's Questor team has its concerns. After all, last year's dividend of £320m in cash was part financed by a £222m rise in the company's net debt position. Current market consensus is for a profit margin of 3% in the year ending in March 2016 but a reduction to 1.5% is possible. Hence, a sustainable dividend would be something closer to 8p.

Even if the dividend does not drop that much the direction of travel is still starkly clear. So even though the stock is trading on approximately 10 times forecast earnings - and offering a prospective dividend yield of 5.4% - it still looks like a 'value trap'. "There is little concrete guidance on where the profit and dividend could fall to under new management and until then Questor would rather hold cash." Sell, Questor says.

In the final results (May) the property portfolio was valued at £12b, set against a market value today of around £5.5b, it would appear that SBRY is undervalued.
2517

Worth a watch next week!

01 Oct 2014 Second Quarter Trading Statement 2014-15

Took the plunge they go ex div (5p) in November, asset backed and Qatar interest thought this a good entry point 251.5p.
2517

Good luck with that George and presumably there should be a trading bounce at some point, but brokers all seem pretty negative on the stock, though TP's seem to be a little above your entry point.

Merrill Lynch: "Sainsbury’s deteriorating sales performance in recent weeks, as implied by Kantar data, has proven that it is certainly not immune from the structural headwinds occurring in the industry. We see risk to FY15 and FY16 consensus and dividend as we foresee the threat of industry price cuts and deleverage impacting earnings and subsequentlyFCF. As such, the balance sheet remains a concern. Retain U/P.
Unfortunately, the threat of deflation, a lack of volume growth, and stubbornly high level of space growth means that even if Sainsbury’s manages to maintain its market position, it will likely continue to experience negative LFL into next year. Management has guided for FY15 LFL to be similar to the prior year, i.e. +0.2%; however, given its H1 performance (BofAML -2.2%), we would expect this to be revised down at its 2Q IMS next Thursday (Oct 1). We estimate 2Q LFL of -3.1% (implied by Kantar), FY15 LFL at -1.5% (consensus -0.5%) and FY16 LFL of -1.6%.
We lower our FY15 PBT estimate by 2% to £701m on account of our lower sales assumptions, placing us 5% below (company compiled) consensus. Our concern, however, is greater for FY16, when we expect Tesco to act to drive a turnaround in its sales performance. We think this will involve some degree of price investment, following actions by Morrison and Asda and thereby fuelling more industry deflation. We cut our FY16E PBT by 5%, which is 20% below (Bloomberg) consensus.
It is difficult to assess at what point Sainsbury’s would need to raise cash given the lack of disclosure over its banking covenants, and no bonds outstanding. However, on our earnings estimates, we foresee lease adjusted net debt/EBITDAR reaching 4x by FY17E (from 3.3x in FY14), a level that we think would likely be considered unacceptable by management, forcing them to act. A cut to capex and/or dividend is likely, in our view, and we do not rule out a capital increase."

Deutsche summary: "We lower our price target by 17%, in line with our EPS cut, from 330p to 275p. The deterioration in relative sales performance at Sainsbury’s in August and September (Kantar) suggests that the company’s competitive position has been eroded. We believe it needs to invest in its offer in order to recover sales momentum and expect consensus earnings for Sainsbury’s to fall toward our new lower forecasts (17% below consensus on 15/16 EPS) over the next 6 months. Given the lower profitability, we expect dividends to be cut to protect the balance sheet. We cut our DPS estimate by 50% from 17.3p to 8.65p, representing a 3.1% dividend yield on our 275p PT. We rate SBRY Hold.

Thanks for that H, it does make for depressing reading and SBRY are a gnat's whisker off their 5 year low, how much bad news is in the price I don't know, but experience tells me that decent co's recover and SBRY imo fall into that catagory. Market share is being taken it's true, divi may be cut next year, and margins will fall, what better time to invest. I've allotted about 60% into these, so I have scope if necessary.
2517

Just a little bit more if you are interested:
Santander: "We are now forecasting Sainsbury’s dividend to be cut 28% in 2015/16 to restore cover to 2x. Tesco announced a 75% reduction last month, and we forecast Morrison to halve its FY dividend. Following this week’s Kantar data, we have lowered our EPS forecasts by 12% and 20% for 2014/15 and 2015/16, respectively, and see continuing pressure on consensus (we are 10% below Bloomberg 2015/16 EPS consensus). With very poor visibility and the prospect of a deteriorating market, as well as questions over property valuations given structurally weaker margins, we lower our recommendation to Underweight and cut our DCF/peer comp-derived target price to 250p."

Barclays: "Sainsbury has been our preferred name in the UK for some time, a choice driven primarily by its consistent market share gains. However, recent trends have been much less convincing and we expect a weak 2Q LFL number next week (-3.4%). Possibly the company’s FY guidance might be revisited. We cut our sales and margin estimates to reflect the tougher environment and Sainsbury’s weaker share trends. But even with quite significant cuts, the stock is trading at a clear discount to peers despite (still) better sales trends. If sales trends deteriorated further then we would lose our appetite for the stock, but the sharp recent fall (-16% in the last month) seems to fully incorporate next week’s difficult trading statement. We reiterate our Overweight rating but cut the target price to 300p."

Cheers (perhaps not the right term) HARRYCAT, I like Barclays best, ha!ha!
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Trading Statement

Second Quarter Trading Statement for 16 weeks to 27 September 2014

Second quarter sales impacted by deflationary environment

· Total Retail sales for second quarter down 0.8 per cent (ex fuel), down 2.3 per cent (inc fuel)
· Like-for-like Retail sales for second quarter down 2.8 per cent (ex fuel), down 4.1 per cent (inc fuel)
· Total Retail sales for the first half flat ex fuel (down 1.4 per cent inc fuel) and like-for-like sales down 2.1 per cent ex fuel (down 3.4 per cent inc fuel)

oops!
2517

Oh dear.

At a time when I'm looking for support, sympathy and understanding, I'm afraid 'Oh dear' just doesn't cut it mitzy.
2517

Good job it's only money.
2517

We all shop in these big supermarkets and can see things happening.

A few years ago we were already shopping in Aldi but we never saw any of our snobby neighbours there when we went.

I would have thought that these big supermarket sales outlets with massive footfall, great buying power, excellent logistics and tons of money should be able to bounce back and wipe the floor with the average Aldi or Lidl - and do it any time soon too.

It is going to be very interesting to watch it happen when it does so. I think it will need a different type of senior manager and essence to the scum bag t***s who are runnning things now. Some of them are already out of the door and more will follow so changes will happen for the good. The stock price improvements will follow.

I think SBRY now have to be a bid target just for the potential.
I think TSCO now have to be a bid target just for the potential.
I think MRW now have to be a bid target just for the potential.

One of the three above might just be right. ;-)

By Graham Ruddick9:00PM GMT 08 Nov 2014Comments5 Comments
J Sainsbury is to scrap a giant programme of store openings and slash its dividend, as part of a dramatic overhaul drawn up to fight falling sales.
The supermarket giant will this week unveil the results of a strategic review, which is expected to reveal that Sainsbury’s is reining in costs in an effort to save cash and shore up its balance sheet.
The measures are intended to allow Sainsbury’s new chief executive, Mike Coupe, to invest in lowering prices as well as expanding the company’s online, convenience store and clothing businesses, which are performing well.
Sainsbury’s sales are falling for the first time in decade as Britain’s “big four” grocery retailers fight shifts in shopping habits and the rise of the discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Mr Coupe replaced Justin King in July and told the City last month that he was conducting a strategic review. He will present the results of the review alongside the company’s interim results, which the City expects to show a 12.5pc fall in underlying pre-tax profits to £350m.
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Sainsbury's to halve Nectar reward points for shoppers 14 Oct 2014
There has been speculation in the City that Sainsbury’s could launch a rights issue to fund a new strategy, but the company is understood to have ruled this out. Instead, it is likely to protect its balance sheet against falling profits by cutting the dividend, potentially by as much as a third.
It is understood that Mr Coupe will also slash capital expenditure and Sainsbury’s new store openings. Sales in large out-of-town supermarkets are falling and Sainsbury’s wants to focus on opening smaller convenience stores.
John Kershaw, analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, said that Sainsbury’s might cut the amount of space it opens by a third. He expected Sainsbury’s to open less than 500,000 sq ft of new selling space in the next financial year, down from 750,000 sq ft this year.
If the company mothballs sites earmarked for new supermarkets then it might be forced to writedown the value of land on its balance sheet.
Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, said Sainsbury’s might cut capital expenditure from just below £900m this year to between £550m and £600m in future.
Mr Black said: “We expect Sainsbury’s to join Asda and Morrisons in becoming more in touch with its customers through a re-allocation of resources from a lower cost base with constrained capital outflows and potentially lower dividend flows.
“For now, as is the case at Tesco, we suspect customers must take precedent over shareholders and other stakeholders in the food system.”
Allan Leighton, the former boss of Asda, said the main problem facing Britain’s grocery retailers was that they have too many stores.
Mr Leighton, who led a turnaround of Asda in the 1990s alongside Archie Norman, said: “In the end, they have too many stores. I think there is a structural thing, but there are also too many stores.”
Tesco’s market share peaked in 2007, but since then it has expanded its shop space by the same area as the whole of Morrisons today.
Mr Leighton also questioned the product range in the big four supermarkets, saying it had become too large and made it “harder to shop”.
He was speaking in an interview as chairman of Matalan, which is growing its out-of-town business but has also opened its first high street store in Cardiff.
Mr Leighton dismissed comments from the supermarket industry that shoppers were turning against out-of-town shopping. He added: “Out of town is very strong.”

Week ahead: Sainsbury's back in the news with latest half year numbers
By Andrew Neil
November 09 2014, 7:00am


One of the UK's big supermarkets Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) will be back in the news this week, when it reports its first half results on Wednesday.

It comes after the group launched last week a joint venture with a Danish partner to open Netto cost saving stores.

New chief executive Mike Coupe faces a baptism of fire as the supermarket has been forced to slash prices as a shift towards convenience shopping and fierce competition has hit sales.

US broker Jefferies says the firm remains the ‘most vulnerable of all UK grocers’ but expects first half profits to be helped by the supermarket’s bank and ‘contained’ gross margin investment.

The broker repeats a ‘hold’ recommendation and target price of 250p. Shares were trading at 245.5p on Friday.

Having sold its stake in stake in Verizon Wireless earlier this year, investors have been keeping an eye on Vodafone (LON: VOD), which reports interims on Monday.

The telecoms business has had to plough vast sums in organic investment and acquisition activity to resuscitate its lagging European operation.

This is facing convergence competition from major players and price competition from smaller ones.

Interims tomorrow, confortably in profit atm and some of the prospective drawbacks such as dividend may be cut by 1/3 have been aired, so that won't come as a surprise.
2517

Interim Results

Financial summary
· Underlying Group sales(1) (inc VAT) down 0.3 per cent to £13,916 million (2013/14: £13,953 million)
· Retail sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) flat year-on-year
· Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) down 2.1 per cent
· Underlying profit before tax(2) down 6.3 per cent to £375 million (2013/14: £400 million)
· Underlying basic earnings per share(3) down 12.7 per cent to 14.5 pence (2013/14: 16.6 pence)
· Return on capital employed(4) of 11.1 per cent (2013/14: 11.4 per cent)
· Return on capital employed excluding pension fund deficit of 10.3 per cent (2013/14: 10.5 per cent)

Statutory
· Group sales (ex VAT, inc fuel) down 0.1 per cent to £12,667 million (2013/14: £12,684 million)
· Items excluded from underlying results total a charge of £665 million (2013/14: £33 million profit), including an impairment and onerous contract charge of £628 million (2013/14: £92 million)
· Loss before tax of £290 million (2013/14: £433 million profit)
· Basic loss per share 18.0 pence (2013/14: 17.9 pence per share earnings)
· Interim dividend 5.0 pence per share (2013/14: 5.0 pence per share)

Highlights from our Strategic Review

Evolving to win
· The grocery sector is undergoing structural change as customers shop more frequently, using online, convenience and discount channels more. We expect supermarket like-for-like sales in the sector to be negative for the next few years, but we have robust plans to address this challenge
· In challenging market conditions, Sainsbury's has delivered relative outperformance in sales and profit for the past five years
· We have listened to our customers and are evolving our strategy from a position of strength to meet their changing needs. We will build on our strong values, differentiated offer of quality products and services, competitive value proposition, advantaged store portfolio, established convenience and online businesses, great colleague service and our unique understanding of our customers

Great products and services at fair prices
· We will improve the quality of 3,000 own-brand products, focusing on the categories which matter to our customers
· We will invest an additional £150 million in price, of which approximately half will fall in the second half of 2014/15 and the remainder in the first half of 2015/16, focused in areas where our customers tell us price matters most
· We will always be competitive on price versus our main supermarket peers. We will work in close partnership with suppliers to deliver value chain efficiencies which can be reinvested in price
· We will continue to grow our non-food business with a focus on design-led clothing, cookware, homeware and seasonal products - increasing our non-food space in supermarkets and rolling out clothing online in 2015
· We are on track to deliver sales and profit growth at Sainsbury's Bank and have opportunities to expand the Bank's product portfolio

There for our customers
· We will open 500,000 sq ft of space in each of the next two years, followed by 350,000 sq ft in 2017/18. This will include eight new supermarkets over that period. It also includes four replacement stores, three of which are mixed-use developments, unlocking significant property profits. Over half of our new space will be convenience stores as we continue to target opening 100 convenience stores per year
· A review of our supermarket estate has concluded that:
- Around 75 per cent of our stores are in the right locations and are of the right size for our food and non-food offer and we will pilot new formats focused on optimising range, layout and ease of shop to meet changing customer shopping patterns
- Over the next five years, around 25 per cent of our store portfolio will have some under-utilised space which can be used to expand our non-food offer or for other purposes such as carefully selected concession partnerships
· We will continue to invest in groceries online to further improve our website and the customer experience, trialling new ways for customers to order and acquire their groceries, including click and collect

Colleagues making the difference
· We will improve our customer experience through continued investment in colleague training and new user-friendly technologies, for example through the roll-out of 'CAM', an automated availability tracking tool which reduces cost and improves on-shelf availability throughout the day

We know our customers better than anyone else
· We will invest in the systems infrastructure to create a single view of our customers, helping us to become increasingly effective in our customer interactions

Our values make us different
· Our values remain a key component of our differentiated offer and we will continue to invest in areas that matter to our customers

Maintaining balance sheet strength
· We will deliver total operating cost savings of £500 million over the next three years. This represents annual operating cost savings in the range of £150 million to £175 million, a step up from recent levels.
· We will reduce capital expenditure to between £500 million and £550 million per annum over the next three years, approximately two per cent of sales
· We maintain our interim dividend at 5.0 pence per share for 2014/15 and will fix dividend cover at 2.0 times our underlying earnings for 2014/15 and over the next three years
· Given the price investment announced today, combined with the outperformance of both the Bank and cost savings in the first half that we do not expect to be repeated in the second half, Sainsbury's expects profitability to be lower in the second half than the first half

After a brief venture in the 220's SBRY has recovered somewhat, the uncut interim divi of 5p goes ex div next thursday, finished strongly at the end of trading today. Possible it will advance early next week as income seekers buy for the divi.
2517

With GS having a tp of 155p I decided to take an ok profit this morning having bought @ 151.5p. Too much downside risk for now.
2517

Sharecast -

The share price of UK supermarket chain J Sainsbury was under pressure on Thursday after Shore Capital downgraded its rating from 'hold' to 'sell', saying investors should expect a "material contraction in profitability".

The broker said it sees "few attractions in holding Sainsbury's shares". It expects a 30% "reset" in earnings per share and is forecasting three years of declines in Sainsbury's profits and dividends.

Long 227.5 tight stop

added 225 and 225.2, same stop

nice gap up and out of the hole so stop loss to stop profit just below the bottom of gap.

Tough times in UK grocery market to take another 18 months to two years before improving: Sainsbury's boss



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2882529/Tough-times-UK-grocery-market-18-months-two-years-improving-says-Sainsbury-s-boss.html

stop to +9

Sharecast -Sainsbury's was besieged by short-sellers last year as hedge-funds bet the grocer would be hit by price cuts in the industry, the Sunday Telegraph said. Sainsbury's shares suffered the most sustained shorting activity of any company in the FTSE 350, according to research firm Markit. Sainsbury's shares on loan reached a record 18.4% at the end of October.

Sainsbury's is accused of delaying payment to contractors that built and refitted its stores, the Sunday Times alleged. The supermarket chain wrote to contractors through the law firm Dentons, increasing to 82 days from 30 days the time contractors must wait for payment.

Also in the Telegraph

stop profit to +14

Trading statement 07 Jan 15 Sainsbury (J) PLC [SBRY]

FTSE 100 movers: Energy stocks hit by drop in crude, Lloyds boosted by upgrade

Fri, 02 January 2015


Sainsbury was trading lower as hedge funds forecast that the supermarket group would be damaged by the grocery industry's escalating price war. Lansdowne Partners, Odey Asset Management and Marshall Wace all blamed the growing popularity of discounters Aldi and Lidl, who would hit profitability by forcing aggressive price cuts for the group to remain competitive.

stop out +14

long or short or secret?

Trading Statement

Third Quarter Trading Statement for the 14 weeks to 3 January 2015

Good sales performance in a tough market

· Total Retail sales for third quarter down 0.4 per cent (excl fuel), down 2.5 per cent (inc fuel)

· Like-for-like Retail sales for third quarter down 1.7 per cent (excl fuel), down 3.9 per cent (inc fuel)

· Over 29.5 million customer transactions in the seven days before Christmas

· Over 1,000 product prices reduced since we announced our £150 million price investment

Sainsbury's leapfrogs Asda to become UK's second-largest supermakert as Aldi and Lidl go from strength to strength




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2908159/Sainsbury-s-beats-Asda-2nd-biggest-supermarket.html

Sharecast -


Sainsbury's to cut 500 jobs in discounter price war

Tue, 13 January 2015


Sainsbury's will slash 500 jobs from store support centres in an effort to cut costs and compete with the discounters.
The supermarket's plan is to save £500m over the next three years, now that new chief executive Mike Coupe is at the helm.

According to the superstore, this plan will "streamline our central divisions and bring our supermarkets and convenience businesses together".

Losing 500 members of its 161,000 strong staff seems like it will be the firm's first move this year.

Coupe told staff in a recent letter: "I recognise that these changes will be difficult for our colleagues and I can assure you the decision to make them was not taken lightly."

"However, I'm certain that we will be in a stronger position to deliver our new strategy and better equipped to win in these times of change as a result."

This is the latest news in the ongoing supermarket price war that has seen the price of milk drop below bottled water in some cases.

shorted attempt to close yesterday gap at 269 at the open,nice stop just above 274.5. it fires up 10 min ago freaking nicely.

gone nicely, collapsed risk.

Both these & TSCO up 3.9% today ahead of SBRY reporting tomorrow.

Trading Statement

Fourth Quarter Trading Statement for the ten weeks to 14 March 2015

Positive response to price investment as volume and like-for-like transactions increase

· Total Retail sales for fourth quarter down 0.3 per cent (excl fuel), down 2.7 per cent (inc fuel)

· Like-for-like Retail sales for fourth quarter down 1.9 per cent (excl fuel), down 3.9 per cent (inc fuel)

· Over 1,100 prices reduced since we announced our £150 million price investment

· Volume increases across the business as new customers discover our great value

Clarification on Egyptian legal case

We are aware of media coverage today outlining a legal case in Egypt brought against our Chief Executive Mike Coupe. This relates to a historic commercial dispute in which Mike Coupe had no involvement and we strongly refute all the allegations.

Mike Coupe was not employed by Sainsbury's at the time of the original business deal in 2001 and has never met the complainant.

When Mr El Nasharty bought our interest in the Egyptian joint venture we had with him in 2001, he paid us with cheques that were dishonoured. Mr El Nasharty is now claiming that Mike was in Egypt on 15th July 2014 and seized these cheques, which is an impossibility. Mike Coupe was in London carrying out his normal duties that day. In September 2014 Mike Coupe was convicted, without notice of the proceedings against him and in his absence, in an Egyptian Court. We have taken all necessary steps to appeal against these groundless claims and will continue to do so.

This process is being handled by our legal team and we do not anticipate it having any material operational or financial impact on the company.

Final Results

Financial summary
· Underlying Group sales(1) (inc VAT) down 0.9 per cent to £26,122 million (2013/14: £26,353 million)
· Retail sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) down 0.2 per cent
· Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) down 1.9 per cent
· Underlying profit before tax(2) down 14.7 per cent to £681 million (2013/14: £798 million)
· Underlying basic earnings per share(3) down 19.5 per cent to 26.4 pence (2013/14: 32.8 pence)
· Return on capital employed(4) of 9.7 per cent (2013/14: 11.3 per cent)
· Return on capital employed excluding pension fund deficit of 9.0 per cent (2013/14: 10.4 per cent)

Statutory
· Group sales (ex VAT, inc fuel) down 0.7 per cent to £23,775 million (2013/14: £23,949 million)
· Items excluded from underlying results total a charge of £753 million (2013/14: £100 million credit), including an impairment and onerous contract charge of £628 million (2013/14: £92 million charge)
· Loss before tax of £72 million (2013/14: £898 million profit)
· Basic loss per share 8.7 pence (2013/14: 37.7 pence earnings per share)
· Proposed full-year dividend 13.2 pence per share, down 23.7 per cent, cover 2.0 times (2013/14: 17.3 pence per share, cover 1.9 times)

Operational Highlights

Great products and services at fair prices
· We are investing in lowering prices on products where customers have told us that price is most important. We have never been more competitive on price versus our competition and are seeing encouraging early signs of volume and transaction growth
· Our programme to improve the quality of 3,000 own-brand products that matter most to our customers is well under way and customers will see more of our improved product ranges over the coming year
· General merchandise and clothing are performing strongly, with sales up over nine per cent
· Sainsbury's Bank delivered sales and profit growth, with operating profit up 17 per cent to £62 million. We are making good progress against our transition plan albeit total capital costs associated with the transition are expected to increase by between £80 million and £120 million

There for our customers
· We have identified sites for our new convenience and supermarket format trials, as we look to make our customer shopping experience easier and more convenient
· We opened 98 convenience stores during the year and delivered over 16 per cent convenience sales growth. We continue to open one to two convenience stores per week
· Groceries online delivered growth in the number of customer orders of 13 per cent, and we have invested in our platform to improve service and availability

Colleagues making the difference
· We restructured the way we work at our store support centres to improve efficiencies, reducing the number of roles by 500. In April 2015, we also announced a restructure of our stores to improve efficiency and customer service, which we expect to result in around 800 fewer roles
· We are developing digital hubs in London and Coventry, creating 480 specialist roles
· We continue to invest in colleague training and development. We won 'Training Initiative of the Year' at the Retail Industry Awards for a programme designed to improve operational outcomes and customer experience

We know our customers better than anyone else
· Our customer insight remains a source of competitive advantage and allows us to reward our customers in a personalised way
· In April 2015, we changed the way we reward our Nectar customers, reducing the number of points earned but introducing more high-value bonus events

Our values make us different
· Our values remain a key component of our differentiated offer and we will continue to focus on areas that our customers care about
· We received our second consecutive Green Retailer of the Year award at the 2014 Grocer Gold Awards. Amongst other environmental initiatives, our Triple Zero stores and CO2 refrigerated vehicles were recognised

Maintaining balance sheet strength
· We have taken decisive action to maintain our balance sheet strength and maximise our cash position, to ensure we remain fit for the future and are able to capitalise on our many growth opportunities
· We have delivered operating cost savings of £140 million in 2014/15 and expect to deliver total operating cost savings of £500 million over the next three years
· Core retail capital expenditure(5) was £947 million in 2014/15. We will reduce core retail capital expenditure to between £500 million and £550 million per annum in each of the next three years. The allocation of our capital expenditure is also changing to reflect our strategy
· The value of our property has decreased during the year by £0.9 billion to £11.1 billion, mainly due to a reduction in market rental values
· We have improved retail working capital by more than £300 million as a result of operational efficiencies
· We have an affordable dividend policy and have fixed cover at 2.0 times our underlying earnings

more....

Trading Statement tomorrow - Financial Calendar

1st Quarter Results

Perhaps a good time to think about shorting. Look over bought. Discounters still eating away at margins. The Christmas competition is going to be fierce.

Sainsbury returns to H1 pretax profit as sales fall

StockMarketWire.com

Sainsbury has returns to profit by posting H1 pretax earnings to GBP339m, from a year-ago loss of GBP290m. Interim dividend was 4p a share. Like-for-like sales, including VAT but excluding fuel, were down 1.6%.

It said underlying group sales, including VAT, were down 2% to GBP13.64bn.

CEO Mike Coupe said:

"We are making good progress against the strategy we outlined last November. We are delivering volume and transaction growth as customers value our quality improvements and our clearer, simpler message of lower regular prices.

"To complement our core food offer of great quality and inspiring food, sold at fair prices, we are delivering on our strategy to expand our non-food businesses with further growth in clothing, general merchandise and Sainsbury's Bank.

"Our strategy of investing to ensure customers can shop with us across multiple channels remains a strategic advantage. Shopping at Sainsbury's is now more convenient than ever for our customers and we are able to reward them for their loyalty.

"We continue to run the business efficiently and our cost savings programme is ahead of plan. We now expect savings of around £225 million by the end of this financial year and we are on track to deliver our target of £500 million cost savings over the next three years."

Easy short from the open on those figures out today.

If it doesn't bounce on 50DMA big gap to fill to 230p.

supermarkets-tough-christmas-pressure-discounters-mounts

Company News



Tue, 17 November 2015


Sainsbury's gains share as discounters claim fifth of grocery market, says Kantar



Sainsbury (J) Quote more






Price: 248.40

Chg: 5.20

Chg %: 2.14%

Date: 17:00



FTSE 100 Quote


Price: 6,268.76 Chg: 122.38 Chg %: 1.99% Date: 17:14

(ShareCast News) - Discounters Aldi and Lidl have reached a combined share of 10% of the British grocery market for the first time, while Sainsbury's became the first major supermarket to claim a market share increase for over a year.
The overall grocery market remained slow in the 12 weeks to 8 November, with sales up by 0.5% according to data from industry research house Kantar Worldpanel, down from the 0.8% announced a month ago.

Revenues continue to be held back by the fierce price war that saw prices down by 1.7% on a like-for-like basis.

Sainsbury's market share increasing by 0.2 percentage points to 16.6% thanks to a 1.5% increase in sales and, as a food-focused retailer, the company traditionally increases its market share over Christmas so could increase its share further by the end of the year.

Sales fell at the rest of the major retailers, with Tesco down by 2.5% and Morrisons sales falling 1.7%.

Asda sales declined 3.5% but the WalMart-owned chain recently announced a slimlined product range, further price investment and increasing click-and-collect opportunities in its stores.

But the continuing rise of the discounters remains a concern for the 'big four', signalling no end to the price battle.

"If you look back as recently as 2012 Aldi and Lidl only held a 5% share of the market, and it had previously taken them nine years to double their combined share from 2.5%," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.

He noted that in the last 12 weeks the two retailers have attracted another additional million shoppers compared with last year while average spend per trip has increased by 4% to £18.85, which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average.

"The discounters show no sign of stopping and with plans to open hundreds of stores between them, they'll noticeably widen their reach to the British population."

Lidl's market share reached a new record high of 4.4%, increasing by 0.7 percentage points on last year thanks to a sales growth of 19%.

Aldi grew sales by 16.5%, keeping its market share at 5.6% for the fifth consecutive month.

StockMarketWire.com
Sainsbury's confirmed it made an approach in November to Home Retail regarding a possible offer for the Group and that this approach was rejected but that it is considering its position.

Home Retail said the approach both undervalued the company and its long-term prospects.

Sainsbury continued:
"Over the last year, Sainsbury's has been working in partnership with Home Retail Group trialling a number of Argos concessions in Sainsbury's stores. The Board of Sainsbury's believes the combination of Sainsbury's and Home Retail Group is an attractive proposition for the customers and shareholders of both companies, establishing a platform for long-term value creation. The combination is an opportunity to bring together two of the UK's leading retail businesses, with complementary product offers, focused on delivering quality products and services at fair prices, through an integrated, multi-channel proposition.

Specifically, the Board of Sainsbury's believes a combination of Home Retail Group and Sainsbury's will:

- Create a food and non-food retailer of choice for customers, building on the strong heritages of both businesses whose brands are renowned for trust, quality, value and customer service;

- Deliver profitable sales growth by offering customers the right combination of location, range, speed and flexibility, across a wide range of products;

- Bring together multi-channel capabilities and delivery networks for fast, flexible and reliable delivery to store or to home across a wide range of food and non-food products;

- Optimise the use of their combined retail space. The combined entity would have attractively located stores across the UK, with an enhanced supply and delivery network and a strong presence across food and grocery, clothing, homewares, toys, stationery, electricals, furniture and other general merchandise;

- Create a financial services proposition that will provide a wider range of customer-centric services including credit cards, loans, deposits, insurance and ATMs;

- Deliver revenue synergy potential through the ability to sell to each other's customers, including the operation of Argos concessions within Sainsbury's stores, and the sale of Sainsbury's products and services through Argos's network;

- Provide additional cost synergy potential through property rationalisation, scale benefits and operational efficiencies.

Sainsbury's reserves the right to introduce other forms of consideration and/or vary the mix of consideration. In accordance with Rule 2.6(a) of the Code, Sainsbury's must, by not later than 5.00 p.m. on 2 February 2016, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Home Retail Group in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer for Home Retail Group, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies. This deadline will only be extended with the consent of Home Retail Group and the Takeover Panel in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code." At 12:31pm

3rd Qt. Trading statement http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5191945

Sainsbury's and Home Retail have come to an agreement over the terms of a deal that values the Argos owner at about £1.3bn. Home Retail shareholders will receive 55p in cash and 0.321 Sainsbury's shares for each of their Home shares, plus
a 2.8p in lieu of a final dividend in respect of the financial year ending 27 February.

SBRY's total underlying Q4 sales rise

StockMarketWire.com

Sainsbury said, in a Q4 trading statement, that total retail sales excluding fuel rose 1.2%, but were up 0.5% if fuel was included. Q4 like-for-like retail sales rose 0.1% excluding fuel, but fell 0.4% including fuel.

FY total retail sales excluding fuel were up 0.4%, but on a like-for-like basis fell 0.9%. Including fuel, total sales fell 1.2% and like-for-like sales fell 2.5%.

CEO Mike Coupe said:

"We have delivered a strong performance this quarter. Our supermarkets recorded both like-for-like transaction and volume growth and we continue to exceed our internal metrics for service and availability.

"We also maintained our market share in the quarter. The market will remain competitive as food deflation continues to impact sales growth.

"We are progressing well with our quality investment in 3,000 own-brand products. The New Year is traditionally a time when customers focus on healthy eating and to cater for this demand we launched a number of vegetable-based product innovations including boodles (butternut squash noodles) and courgetti (spiralized courgette) which are proving extremely popular with our customers.

"We also introduced new lines to our healthier bread range including the rye loaf and sprouting grain boule, both of which are high in fibre.

"Our promotional participation levels continue to reduce year-on-year, running at an average of 28 per cent for the quarter[2]. Customers have told us that multi-buy promotions do not meet their shopping needs today.

"They are often viewed as confusing, create storage challenges and unnecessary waste. In response to this, we recently announced that we will be phasing out the vast majority of our multi-buy promotions across grocery products by August this year.

"We will continue to simplify our trading strategy in favour of lower regular prices. We are also committed to reducing waste and in January we launched our Waste less, Save more initiative in Swadlincote, Derbyshire. The town will receive �1 million to trial the latest technology and innovations in reducing household waste.

"Our in-store operational metrics for service and availability remain excellent and are beating our internal targets. Year-to-date we have won 16 Grocer 33 Service & Availability awards, ahead of our run-rate in the previous year.

"We opened 16 convenience stores including our second micro store in Richmond. Groceries online sales grew at nearly 14 per cent and orders by nearly 19 per cent. We simplified our online nectar redemption process, making it easier for customers to redeem their points, and improving the online customer experience.

"Clothing delivered over ten per cent growth and we introduced our 22nd Gok Wan collection which had its best ever February launch. Entertainment also performed well, with nearly 11 per cent growth driven by some big releases in the quarter.

"Sainsbury's Bank continued its good performance with 15 per cent volume growth in Insurance new business and 12 per cent growth in Travel Money in-store transaction volumes.

"We have traded well this year and are making excellent progress implementing our strategy. The market will remain competitive but we are confident that we will continue to outperform our major peers."

Good time to short this one. Perhaps further to fall, with the update next week.

Had a good run since July, maybe pushing my luck a wee bit but gone long on the spreads @ 250.40p.

Trading Statement Wednesday, target 270p tight stop.

LATEST BROKER VIEWS

Date Broker New target Recomm.
26 Sep Jefferies... 250.00 Hold
26 Sep Credit Suisse 315.00 Outperform
21 Sep Deutsche Bank 280.00 Buy
21 Sep Barclays... 270.00 Equal weight
20 Sep Exane BNP... 265.00 Outperform
14 Sep Exane BNP... 265.00 Outperform
14 Sep Barclays... 270.00 Equal weight
31 Aug Citigroup N/A Neutral
24 Aug Deutsche Bank 280.00 Buy
5 Aug Exane BNP... 260.00 Outperform

Not sure if 270 is on the cards anytime soon.

Take bits out of statement that suits your remit.

Holding at the moment.

Guess so Claret, got out of s/bet at the open. On watch list though.

confess i have avoided all supermarkets for a year or more
i think they're a total disaster sector

you might want to look at GNK as this late hot spell we've being having must surely help their next set of figures

Think SBRY better placed than Asda at mo. Depends what impact if any, on Argos takeover.

as i said above, i wouldn't want any supermarket group in my portfolio, nor M&S which is a total disaster

Agree with sentiment on Supermarkets. But still made a decent profit at SBRY.

Some support @ 240p and if sp manages to stay above 50DMA hope springs eternal. Glass half full for now.

Held steady and now back above 25DMA. For how long who knows, but at least that's September out of the way.

LATEST BROKER VIEWS

Date Broker New target Recomm.
29 Sep Beaufort... N/A Hold
29 Sep Exane BNP... 265.00 Outperform
29 Sep Deutsche Bank N/A Buy
29 Sep HSBC 185.00 Reduce
28 Sep Shore Capital N/A Under Review
26 Sep Jefferies... 250.00 Hold
26 Sep Credit Suisse 315.00 Outperform
21 Sep Deutsche Bank 280.00 Buy
21 Sep Barclays... 270.00 Equal weight
20 Sep Exane BNP... 265.00 Outperform

A few good days. Looking for 280p

Looking good.

Interim results next Wenesday 9th November.

Tanked.

Third Quarter Trading Statement for the 15 weeks to 7 January 2017

Good Christmas performance as customers choose Sainsbury's for quality, choice and value

· Sainsbury's: Total Retail sales1 up 0.8 per cent (excl. fuel) and like-for-like Retail sales up 0.1 per cent (excl. fuel), with total volumes up and like-for-like volumes flat

· Argos: Total sales up 4.1 per cent and like-for-like sales up 4.0 per cent

· Combined Sainsbury's and Argos like-for-like sales up 1.0 per cent (excl. fuel)

more.....

Good run since December.

StockMarketWire.com
J Sainsbury made an underlying profit before tax of £251 million in the 28 weeks to 23 September, 9% lower than the year before as a result of wage cost inflation, price investment and the consolidation of Argos' first half losses.

Group sales rose 17% to £16.3 billion, reflecting the consolidation of Argos, but like-for-like sales (excluding fuel) rose by just 1.6%.

Underlying earnings per share dropped by 22%, reflecting a full period's dilution impact of new shares issued to Home Retail Group shareholders on acquisition.

EBITDA synergies totalled £25 million and the group said it is on track to deliver its £160 million EBITDA synergy target from the Argos acquisition six months ahead of schedule.

Statutory profit before tax fell from £372 million to £220 million due to the prior year's £111 million one-off property gain from Nine Elms and a £98 million profit from the sale of the pharmacy business.

Groceries online sales increased by 7%, convenience sales by over 8% and clothing sales by almost 7%. Clothing online sales grew by 54%.

Sainsbury's Bank registered a 56% growth in total income and 17% increase in underlying operating profit to £34 million, primarily reflecting the full consolidation of Argos Financial Services.

Mike Coupe, group chief executive of J Sainsbury, said: "We have delivered a good performance across the Group in the last six months, with more customers choosing to shop at Sainsbury's in the first half than ever before. We are now three years into delivering our differentiated strategy and are seeing clear results."

He added: "We have exceeded our cost savings target as a group, saving £100 million this half, which gives us the flexibility to increase pay for our store colleagues a

Proactive investor-

Morrisons and Sainsbury's shares tank after Kantar reveals drop in market share
Share
15:20 12 Dec 2017
Grocery inflation reached its highest level since 2013 as a weaker pound pushed up import costs


Morrisons is the biggest faller on the FTSE 100
Shares in Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) and J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) plunged on Tuesday after industry data showed the supermarket chains both lost further market share in the 12 weeks to 3 December.
Tough competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to chip away at market share of the so-called ‘big four’ supermarkets during the period, while grocery inflation hit its highest level since 2013, Kantar Worldpanel revealed.
READ: J Sainsbury more at risk than peers from downturn in UK economy, reckons Jefferies
Morrisons’ market share fell to 10.6% from 10.8% the same period a year ago, despite sales rising 1.4% year-on-year.
Sainsbury’s market share dropped to 16.3% from 16.5% while sales edged up 2%.
Tesco was the best performing of the big four, with sales up 2.5% even as its market share fell to 28.2% from 28.3%.
Asda sales climbed 1.2% with market share dipping to 15.0% from 15.3%.
Aldi the fastest growing grocer
Aldi was the fastest growing grocer during the period with sales boosted by chilled food products, including ready meals and desserts.
Its market share rose to 6.9% from 6.2% and sales rose 15.1% as it continued to open more stores. 
Lidl’s market share increased to 5.1% from 6.2% and sales grew 14.5%.
Overall, UK grocery sales rose 3.1% despite the pressure of higher inflation on UK consumers.
Morrisons and Sainsbury's remnained the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 in late afternoon trading with their shares down 5.2% to 210p and 4.6% to 233.4p respecively, while Tesco shares were down 0.6% at 204.25p.
Grocery inflation highest level since 2013
Grocery inflation reached 3.6%, driven by price rises in butter, fish and fresh pork.
A sharp fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote last year has pushed import costs higher, putting a strain on supermarkets that have been trying to keep prices low to attract hard-hit customers in a competitive environment. 
But higher inflation did not stop consumers from spending money on alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks ahead of Christmas. 
“Alcohol sales are up by nearly £172mln compared to this time last year and while volume sales have increased, this impressive growth is mainly a result of consumers choosing more expensive festive tipples," said Fraser McKevit, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
“Gin, whisky and sparkling wine all saw significant growth: up by 26%, 10% and 7% respectively as shoppers pushed the boat out.”
"Still small but growing rapidly, non-alcoholic beer is the new kid on the block this Christmas – growing sales by 27% during the past 12 weeks.”
 -- Updates share prices --

StockMarketWire.com
J Sainsbury upgraded its annual profits guidance after posting a rise in third-quarter sales and extracting more savings from its merger with Argos.

Total retail sales excluding fuel in the 15 weeks to January 6 grew by 1.2% On a like-for-like basis, they grew by and 1.1%.

"We had a strong Christmas week, with record sales, over 340,000 online grocery orders and stellar growth in Argos fast track delivery and collection," chief executive Mike Coupe said.

"Online accounted for 20% of the group's sales during the quarter," he added.

Sainsbury's now expects to achieve £80m-£85m of Ebitda synergies from the Argos acquisition by March 2018, ahead of previous guidance of £65m.

As a consequence its expects 2017/18 underlying profit to be moderately ahead of published consensus of £559m.

StockMarketWire.com
Supermarket chain J Sainsbury said that it and Walmart had agreed to the terms of a proposed £7.3bn acquisition of the US's group's Asda business.

The deal would give Walmart 42% of the combined group's shares, plus £2.975bn in cash.

Walmart, however, would not hold more than 29.9% of the merged entity's total voting rights.

Both the Sainsbury's and Asda brands would be maintained, while Ebitda synergies of at least £500m would be targeted.

Separately, Sainsbury's also announced that its underlying pre-tax profit for the year through 10 March had increased by 1.4% to £589m. For the current financial year, the company said its expectations were in line with current market consensus of £629m.

Group sales rose 9.0% to £31.7m, while sales on a like-for-like basis increased by 1.3%.

Statutory pre-tax profit fell 19% to £409m, weighed by one-off costs associated with proposed changes to store operations, Argos integration costs and Sainsbury's Bank transition costs.

Sainsbury's declared a final dividend of 7.1p per share, up 7.6% on-year.

Merger synergies would largely be comprised of buying benefits, opening Argos in Asda stores and operational efficiencies, Sainsbury's said. It pledged to close no Sainsbury's or Asda stores as a result of the deal.

'We believe that the combination of Sainsbury's and Asda will create substantial value for our shareholders and will be excellent news for our customers and our colleagues,' Sainsbury's chief executive David Tyler said.

'As one of the largest employers in the country, the combined business will become an even greater contributor to the British economy.'

Walmart International chief executive Judith McKenna said the deal was consistent with the US retail giant's strategy of looking for new ways to drive overseas growth.

'We believe this combination will create a dynamic new retail player better positioned for even more success in a fast-changing and competitive UK market,' she said.

The deal will be subject to the approval of UK competition authorities.

A decent short to be had here at some point.

JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its underweight investment rating on Sainsbury (J) PLC (LON:SBRY) and raised its price target to 260p (from 200p).

Most of the reports I have read, imply that this deal won't go through. JPM Caz seem to agree.

Not that I know anything about supermarkets but won't the deal involve a lot of shops being sold by each company due to competition ....Tesco and others are bound to make up a whole list of objections...wanting such an outlet to be sold...etc.....might take half a year to sort out.....and our supermarkets need to see things on a European scale, not just limiting themselves to the UK.....

Sainsburys got to think again.